Subseabed Disposal Project annual report: Ocean modeling studies, October 1983 through September 1984. [From subseabed disposal in ocean]
The Subseabed Disposal Project (SDP), managed at and in part conducted by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for the US Department of Energy, is designed to evaluate the scientific, technical, environmental and economic feasibility of depositing high-level nuclear wastes (HLW) within the sediments at the bottom of the deep ocean. The work is in part to assist US planners in devising and assessing global disposal options, and in part to assist other nations in assessing the feasibility and consequences of oceanic nuclear waste disposal. At the schematic level, there appear to be many advantages to ocean disposal. First, the sites under consideration are some of the most stable geological formations on the face of the earth, far from the active edges of tectonic plates and generally composed of thick sedimentary layers many millions of years old and many thousands of square kilometers in area. They are generally near the centers of the main oceanic circulation gyres and are therefore remote from the principal oceanic current systems. The deep sediments can be penetrated to 30 m or more meters at burial, and form thereafter an effective first barrier. Most of the radioactive nuclides which would eventually leak from the burial containers are permanently trapped in the sediments by chemical adsorption. As the deep sediments are anomalously poor in biological and mineral resources, radioactive decomposition of the sorbed nuclides promises to be relatively innocuous. Low deep-water temperatures (approx.1/sup 0/C) and high pressures (approx.500 atms.) provide an excellent environment for heat dissipation. Lastly, the sites are geographically remote and are rarely visited by seafarers of any kind. 55 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Technadyne Engineering Consultants, Inc., Woods Hole, MA (USA); Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6201284
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-86-0929; ON: DE87012343; TRN: 87-025462
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
58 GEOSCIENCES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
SITE SELECTION
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SEAS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SURFACE WATERS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
580500 - Oceanography- (1980-1989)