ML19296B074
| ML19296B074 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/31/1979 |
| From: | Philbrick S Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| To: | Muller R Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| References | |
| ACRS-CT-1187, NUDOCS 8002190834 | |
| Download: ML19296B074 (2) | |
Text
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'o, UNITED STATES 7,
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 y, f i?.
.,5 ADVtsORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS o,
WASHINGTON. D. C. 20555
'%.N.... /g October 31, 1979 C.~/~-
j} h Ragnwald Muller Senior Staff Engineer Following is a brief report of the October 25th meeting of the experts in geology and geotechnical engineering on Waste Management, some of whom had met on October 22-24, 1979 at the Keystone Center for Continuing Education, Xeystone, Colorado.
Following is the list of the Non-NRC participants:
Dr. Neville Cook Dr. Fred Donath Dr. Charles Fairhairst Dr. Terry Lash Dr. Peter Montague Dr. Robert Pohl Dr. Robert Williams Ms. Georgia Yuan Drs. Cook and Fairhairst are widely recognized as toplevel men in the field of rock mechanics as applied to construction and mining.
Dr. Donath has a wide reputation in physical testing of strength of rock and mathematical mo-deling of ground water flow.
Dr. Robert Williams showed deep appreciation of the engineering aspects of deep geologic repositories for high level waste.
I thought that these fou made important contributions to-the technical side of review of the draft regulations on geologic repositories.
I thought Drs.
Cook, Fairairst and Williams had rather finn grasps of the solutions to pro-blems of geologic repositories.
I was startled that there was not a consensus that deep geologic depositories are feasible. This is so far from any belief and from my sampling of the opinions of very able and experienced engineering geologists, that I almost exclaimed in astonishment.
Part of this may be explained by Dr. Pohl's very well known position on the campus of Cornell University, and Central New York, that nuclear power plants are unsafe, unnecessary and unwise, as I have noted his opinions from the plat-form and in the local paper. Part may be explained because several of these people are just not used to thinking in tems of geologic and subsurface con-ditions and, I believe, don't really have a firm basis for making a sound judgment.
It takes some years and some experience to develop such a firm basis.
However, Larry White has done an excellent job on the draft. The draft is, in general, over cautious, detailed and restrictive.
It seems to keep the 8002190 S 3 'l-
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Ragnwald Muller October 31, 1979 investigation along a path which might be abandoned earlier if unfavorable conditions were discovered early in the search for a sitee With the ever growing restrictions on disposal of nuclear waste, this country cannot long afford to run scientific investigations when safe engineering studies and designs are the steps necessary for the planning, design and construction of deep geologic respositories for high level nuclear waste.
Sincerely,
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Shailer S. Philbrick e
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