Consideration of future climatic changes in three geologic settings

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6520683· OSTI ID:6520683

Petrie, G M

Staff at Pacific Northwest Laboratory are evaluating the potential for climatic change to affect the integrity of a nuclear waste repository at: (1) the Gibson Dome area of Utah; (2) the Palo Duro Basin of Texas; and (3) the Gulf Coast. Because a major assumption in this analysis is that a glacial age will recur, the climate of the last glacial period is examined for each location. Combining these paleoclimatic data with the current climatic data, each location is evaluated in light of the criteria given in Draft Revised General Guidelines for Recommendation of Sites for Nuclear Waste Repositories (10 CFR 960). The results of this analysis suggest that sites located in these areas are likely to meet the climate requirements set forth in the guidelines. However, further study is needed before a definitive statement can be made. In particular, modeling the effect of sea level change on the Gulf Coast groundwater system and obtaining an improved estimation for the increase in recharge during glacier times at the Texas and Utah locations would be useful. Several stragegies are presented for accomplishing this work. 94 references, 27 figures, 5 tables.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6520683
• Report Number(s): PNL-4937; ON: DE85001704
• 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
500100 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
500500 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLIMATES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FEDERAL REGION IV
FEDERAL REGION VI
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GULF COAST
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LOUISIANA
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METEOROLOGY
MISSISSIPPI
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PALO DURO BASIN
PERMIAN BASIN
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SALT DEPOSITS
TEXAS
USA
UTAH
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES