Summary discussion of the 1996 performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Journal Article · Fri May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · Reliability Engineering and System Safety (Special Journal Issue)

OSTI ID:755590

HELTON, JON CRAIG; ANDERSON, D RICHARD; BASABILVAZO, G; JOW, HONG-NIAN; MARIETTA, MELVIN G

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is under development by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the geologic disposal of transuranic waste. The construction of complementary cumulative distribution functions (CCDFs) for total radionuclide release from the WIPP to the accessible environment is described. The resultant CCDFs (1) combine releases due to cuttings and cavings, spallings, direct brine release, and long-term transport in flowing groundwater, (2) fall substantially to the left of the boundary line specified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) standard 40 CFR 191 for the geologic disposal of radioactive waste, and (3) constitute an important component of the DOE's successful Compliance Certification Application to the EPA for the WIPP. Insights and perspectives gained in the performance assessment (PA) that led to these CCDFs are described, including the importance of (1) an iterative approach to PA, (2) uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, (3) a clear conceptual model for the analysis, (4) the separation of stochastic (i.e., aleatory) and subjective (i.e., epistemic) uncertainty, (5) quality assurance procedures, (6) early involvement of peer reviewers, regulators, and stake holders, (7) avoidance of conservative assumptions, and (8) adequate documentation.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 755590
• Report Number(s): SAND2000-1128J; TRN: US0003619
• Journal Information: Reliability Engineering and System Safety (Special Journal Issue), Other Information: Submitted to Reliability Engineering and System Safety (Special Journal Issue); PBD: 19 May 2000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
WIPP
PERFORMANCE
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
RISK ASSESSMENT
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
DATA COVARIANCES
ALEATORY UNCERTAINTY
COMPLEMENTARY CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION
COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATION APPLICATION
EPISTEMIC UNCERTAINTY
LATIN HYPERCUBE SAMPLING
MONTE CARLO
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE
STOCHASTIC UNCERTAINTY
SUBJECTIVE UNCERTAINTY
TRANSURANIC WASTE
UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS
WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT
40 CFR 191
40 CFR 194