Design criteria Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Site and Preliminary Design Validation (SPDV). Revision 1

Technical Report · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:6409328

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed to implement a program to continue the current geologic and hydrologic studies for the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Project. This program is referred to as the ''Site and Preliminary Design Validation,'' or ''SPDV,'' and consists of constructing two vertical shafts, 10 ft and 6 ft in diameter, to about the middle of a 3000-ft-thick layer of evaporite deposits (principally rock salt). The 10-ft shaft will be drilled to 12 ft diameter with a 10-ft steel liner placed in the rock and aquifer formations to a depth of about 850 ft. The portion of the 10-ft shaft in salt and the entire length of the 6-ft shaft will be unlined. Geologic conditions near the test horizon will be probed by vertical and horizontal core drilling from the experimental level. At a depth of about 2162 ft and within a 14-acre area a network of underground access-ways and rooms for conducting nonradioactive experiments to evaluate the suitability of the salt strate for radioactive waste disposal will be constructed. The site for this activity is located in southeastern Eddy County, New Mexico, about 26 miles east of Carlsbad and 18 miles northeast of Loving. The construction of the site validation shafts and in situ experimentation facility is planned to further the research and development efforts already in progress at the WIPP site. Borehole and laboratory tests have been conducted for data acquisition; however, full-scale exploration, including shafts, tunnels, test panels, and horizontal core holes, is to be performed for full site and design validation.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-78AL05346
• OSTI ID: 6409328
• Report Number(s): WIPP-DOE-72-Rev.1; ON: DE86003342
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
DESIGN
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PILOT PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SALT DEPOSITS
SHAFT EXCAVATIONS
TESTING
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
VALIDATION
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WIPP