Independent Analysis of Seismicity and Rock fall Scenarios for the Yucca Mountain Repository

Conference · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21208651

Apted, M J ^[1]; Kemeny, J M ^[2]; Martin, C D ^[3]; James, R J ^[4]

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1. Monitor Scientific, 3900 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Denver, CO 80235 (United States)
2. University of Arizona, Dept. Mining and Geological Engineering, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
3. University of Alberta, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Edmonton, AB T6G 2W2 (Canada)
4. Anatech Corp., 5435 Oberlin Dr., San Diego, CA 92121 (United States)

Yucca Mountain is located in the somewhat seismically active Basin and Range province. Future seismic activity is identified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the US National Academy of Sciences as a key scenario for safety assessment of a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. As part of its on-going program of conducting independent analyses of scientific and technical issues that could be important to the licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository, EPRI has conducted an analysis of the combined scenarios of seismic activity and stability of emplacement drifts with respect to the long-term repository safety. In this paper we present the results of 3D finite element simulations of both static and dynamic loading of a degraded waste package. For the static case, the expected maximum static load is determined by utilizing relationships between cave height and the bulking factor. A static load representing 30 meters of broken rock was simulated using the finite element model. For the dynamic case, block size and velocity data from the most recent Drift Degradation AMR are used. Based on this, a rock block with a volume of 3.11 m{sup 3} and with an impact velocity of 4.81 m/s was simulated using the finite element model. In both cases, the results indicate that the waste package remains intact. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21208651
• Report Number(s): INIS-US-09-WM-06163; TRN: US09V0962079438
• Resource Relation: Conference: Waste Management 2006 Symposium - WM'06 - Global Accomplishments in Environmental and Radioactive Waste Management: Education and Opportunity for the Next Generation of Waste Management Professionals, Tucson, AZ (United States), 26 Feb - 2 Mar 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 16 refs
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CAVES
DYNAMIC LOADS
EPRI
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
LICENSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RISK ASSESSMENT
ROCKS
SAFETY
SEISMICITY
SIMULATION
US NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
US NRC
YUCCA MOUNTAIN