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

Technical Report · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:6409335

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing 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 drilling two vertical shafts, 6 and 12 ft in diameter, to about the middle of a 3000-ft-thick layer of evaporite deposits (principally rock salt). The entire length of the 6-ft shaft and the portion of the 12-ft shaft in salt will be unlined. A 10-ft steel liner will be placed in the rock and aquifer formations to a depth of about 850 ft. Geologic conditions near the test horizon will be probed by vertical and horizontal core drilling from the experimental level. At a depth of about 2150 ft, a 10-acre by 12-ft-thick volume will be excavated to provide a network of underground access-ways and rooms for conducting nonradioactive experiments to evaluate the suitability of the salt strata for radioactive waste disposal. 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 preliminary data acquisition; however, full-scale shaft exploration is to be performed for full site validaton. Experiments at realistic waste emplacement depths are required for design validation.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-78AL05346
• OSTI ID: 6409335
• Report Number(s): WIPP-DOE-72; ON: DE86003401
• 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