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The Scientific Basis for Long-Term Prediction of Waste-Form Performance Under Repository Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

John E. Mendel
John E. Mendel*
Affiliation:
Materials Characterization Center, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA
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Extract

The reason for making long-term predictions of waste-form performance under repository conditions is to assess the impact of nuclear waste disposal upon the safety of future generations. Assessment of repository safety can be approached in two ways. One method is to define an acceptable release of radioactivity to the accessible environment, and to work back from that point to determine what kind of performance requirements are placed on the waste form. When this is done, it is found that the performance requirements for the waste form are not very restrictive. The waste form can dissolve completely in 100 to 10,000 years without affecting safety [1,2], because the repositories will be 300 meters or more underground. Radionuclide retardation on repository rocks and overburden and dilution during the long flow paths to the accessible environment become the controlling parameters.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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References

REFERENCES

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