ML20150B972

Transcript of Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 880628 First General Meeting in Washington,Dc.Pp 181-341.Supporting Documentation Encl

ML20150B972
Person / Time
Issue date:	06/28/1988
From:	NRC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE (ACNW)
To:
References
NACNUCLE-T-0001, NACNUCLE-T-1, NUDOCS 8807120267
Download: ML20150B972 (376)

Text

{{#Wiki_filter:. .- . - . .. gag _. son

                                               ' --                                              OR 3 \!A                 _

i O" UNFFED STATES l NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE

                                                                   )

In the Matter of: )

                                                                   )

FIRST GENERAL MEETING ) l

                                                                   )                                                             l MORNING SESSION                                  )
                                                                  )

l \ O , t

                                                                                                                     'M$"$'

DATE: June 28, 1988 n r""'S f;( f,h.h'$

                                                      \                   hY i     F  * '7 $ 1 d                         'N LOCATION: ' washington , D .C .: i ' ""g O }i; 4 Ni'i"; J ({['),
                                                      }                        p 1

1iW6' ()hd, 4 PAGES: 181 through 341 'elB0VO [131E HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - O owam 1220 L Seset, N.W., Sehe det WAAMRgtOS, D.C. 20005 8807120267 000628 l yD 000 [

7, . 181 _ ()

• UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE

[ 3 ) In the Matter of: ) 4 )

                                                          )

5 FIRST GENERAL MEETING )

                                                          )

6 MORNING SESSION ) a 7 Tuesday, June 28, 1988 8 Room 1946 9 1717 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20555 10 The above-entitled matter came on for hearing, 11 pursuant to notice, at 8:00 a.m. 12 BEFORE: DR. DADE W. MOELLER 13 Chairman O 14 Professor of Engineering in Environmental Health and Associate Dean for Continuing Education, School of Public Health 1L Harvard University Boston, Massachusetts 16 ACNW i .fBERS PRESENT: 17 DR. MARTIN J. STEINDLER 18 Director, Chemical Technology Division Argonne National Laboratory 19 Argonne, Illinois 20 ACRS MEMBERS PRESENT: 21 DR. WILLIAM KERR Professor of Nuclear Engineering 22 and Director of the Office of Energy Research University Mir.higan 23 Ann Arbor, Michigan 24 25 O HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

4' ] l 182 l () 1 DR. PAUL G. SHEWMON Professor, Metallurgical Engineering Department l 2 - Ohio State University . Columbus, Ohio CONSULTANTS: 4 D. Orth 5 M. Carter J._ Moody 6 INVITED GUEST: 7 DR. CLIFFORD V. SMITH 8 ACNW COGNIZANT STAFF MEMBER: 9 Richard Savio 10 NRC STAFF PRESENTERS: 11 John-Greeves 12 Michael Tokar 13 14 j 15 i 16 17 18 5 19 l l 20 i 21 l 22 23 I 24 25 O HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION ---(202)628-4888 L __ _

r-183 1 PROCEEDIfl G S. 2 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: The meeting will now come to 3 order. This is the second day of_the first_ meeting of the 4 Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. Let me welcome everyone, l 5~ and most particularly Dr. Judith Moody, who is joining us this-6 morning as a consultant to the Committee. t 7 The topics for discussion today have been announced 8 in the Federal Register, and I will briefly cite them. 9 The first item is the review of the proposed rule 10 changes to Part 72, and that deals with the storage of spent f 11 nuclear fuel in NRC appreved storage casks at nuclear power , i 12 reactor sites. i 13 The second item which we will be discussing will be O 14 the low-level waste form and polyethylene high integrity 15 containers, and both of the first two items will be  ! 16 discussions with the NRC staff, and that should carry us up to  ! 17 about 10:00 a.m.. Then for the remainder of the morning, we l l 18 will be meeting with the DOE staff to review the content of l l 19 the consultation draft site characterization plan, and we will  ! 20 hear from the DOE staff on their plans to address the NRC's i 21 comments on the CD/SCP. Then this afternoon, we will be  ! 22 hearing once again from the DOE staff and its contractors when , t 23 they will report on alternative models of the hydrologic 24 structure of the Yucca Mountain site. ( 25 The meeting is being conducted in accordance with HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

184 1 the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the 2 Government in the Sunshine Act. Dr. Richard Savio is the 3 designated federal official, and seated on my right is Dr. 4 Sidney Parry, who is our staff, providing our staff support. 5 I understand we have received one request for an 6 oral statement to be made by a member of the public today. If 7 there are any other people who desire to make statements, 8 please check with Dr. Parry. 9 A transcript is being kept of the meeting, and I 10 urge each speaker to identify himself or herself, go to a 11 microphone, and speak with sufficient clarity and volume so 12 that we can hear what is being said, and that same bit of 13 guidance applies to the members of the Committee and its O 14 consultants, and perhaps to the staffs. 15 We will go ahead then and--well, let me first ask 16 are there any questions or comments by any of the Committee 17 members or its consultants? Okay. We will move on then and 18 call on the NRC staff to begin a discussion of the rule 19 changes to Part 72, and I understand John Roberts will be 20 handling that. 21 MR. ROBERTS: Thank you, Dr. Moeller. I am John l 22 Roberts, section leader, Irradiated Fuel Storage in the Fuel l 23 Cycle Safety branch, and that is in the Office of Nuclear l 24 Material Safety and Safeguards. 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Can you move your microphone e HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - (202)628-4888 ]

7-185 1 little closer? Can the thing be turned up any? 1 2 (Slide) {~J}

   ~

3 MR. ROBERTS: Can you hear me now? 4 DR. SMITH: That's better. 5 MR. ROBERTS: This worked all right yesterday, 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: I think if you hold it up that 7 will help. 8 MR. ROBERTS: Okay. Can everybody hear me'now in 9 the back of the room? Bill, can you hear me? Thank you. 10 As I identified myself, I am John Roberts, section 11 leader, Iradiated Fuel Storage in the Fuel Cycle Safety 12 Branch, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, and 13 my branch chief, Leland Rouse, is seated right there on the O 14 left, and next to him is Mr. William Pearson, of our Office of 15 Research, who has been working on this rule, and they will be 16 answering questions if I can't answer them. 17 All right. Basically I would like to start off by 18 saying that the next three slides I will try and cover 19 generally what, why, and how with respect to this rule. 20 As stated, what we are trying to do is develop an 21 approval system for dry spent fuel storage cask designs, and 22 to do that we wish to also establish the procedures for spent 23 fuel storage at reactor sites without the, for additional site 24 specific approvals. 25 And I think those of you who are present yesterday HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

186 1 will recall that our procedu'es

                                    ;  to date with respect to

() 2 licensing have involved the review of topical safety analysis 3 reports, but that these reports, the safety review of these 4 reports, in the letter of approval and SERs really don't have 5 any legal standing so to speak in the licensing action, that 6 is, they can simply be referenced in a subsequent site 7 specific licensing action, but they have no capability of 8 being used as it were independently. 9 Why would we want to go to the type of system where 10 we can move to a direct approval of cask designs? Well, one, 11 I think is that it provides greater efficiency, and by that I 12 mean a standardization of our process. By approving a given - 13 standardized design, and allowing it to be used at reactor 14 sites, by a Part 50 licensee, we are in a position of having a 15 completely uniform standard for that model of cack, and I 16 mention this because although the number of, for example, 17 transportation casks are relatively small, when we start 13 talking about these dry storage casks we are talking in the 19 hundreds and possibly thousands of casks being produced over a 20 period of decades and used over a period of decades, and 21 consequently, what we wish to set up here is not merely a 22 process for uniform licensing, but also a coordinated system 23 for uniform inspection and uniform operational inspection and 24 enforcement, and that if, as you have looked at some of these 25 pre-decisional documents, we are going to be involved and HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

187 1 continue to be involved rather heavily with the Vender () 2 Inspection Branch and the Fabrication and Quality Assurance 3 Branch on the quality assurance of these cask designs as a 4 whole part of the production of these casks and the long-term 5 use. 6 In addition, we will have a tracking system to

    .7 follow these casks starting with certificate of compliance, 8 and starting with the fabrication of each cask on through the 9 cask use, by various users, to the decommissioning of these 10  casks. Each cask will be followed by a log that will cover 11  the maintenance and repair of each eask, whether it is, that 12  cask gets one user through its entire period of use or f-  13  multiple users.

O 14 Now why else are we doing this rulemaking? Because 15 we were told to. Congress said that it wanted to obtain a 16 procedure for dry storage that would allow us by rulemaking to 17 get away from additional site specific reviews, and that is 18 covered in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Sections 133 and 19 218A. 20 (Slide) 21 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Did the Congress say or hint at 22 all about any impact this would have on the need for an MRS? 23 MR. ROBERTS: No. I don't believe so. It is in a 24 separate section of the Act. No. I know of no, no 25 interconnection between the two. How do we intend to achieve HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

L 188 1 this? gg 2 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: I mean you know of no

 \_/

3 interconnection within the Congress? I mean certainly there  ! 4 are obvious interconnections technically or any other way. i

                                                                          )

5 MR. ROBERTS: Yes, potentially there are, but as I l t

6 say in the structure of the Act, I don't know of any -

t l l 7 interconnection. l 8 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Fine. I understand. How do we , I l 9 propose to achieve this purpose of going to a nonspecific,

• 10 site specific process? We looked at this and we proposed to 11 provide for certification of the dry storage cask designs.

12 That is, that the staff would review the casks and review the l 13 safety analysis reports submitted, follow out with a safety O-A 14 evaluation report, and if approved, issue a certificate of 15 compliance laying down specific conditions for use of the  ! 16 cask. , 17 Now this doesn't mean that under Part 72, this 18 amendment of Part 72, that we will not continue potentially to i 19 issue site specific licenses. Any utility, for example, f 20 reactor operating licensee, who might choose for whatever  ! 21 reason to not wish to adhere to a certificate of compliance i P l 22 with its cenditions might propose a specific site specific 1 l 23 design, and indeed there are a number of designs that would  ! 24 not be appropriate for this particular rule. You will notice () 25 that this rule applies only to stand-alone storage casks. I 1 I 1 l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 j

189 1 Thus some of the designs that I discussed yesterday such as 2 the concrete module and the vault would not come under this. 3 On the other hand, they provide different types of 4 diversity within this framework of providing the reactor 5 storage for virtually all potential licensees, so they have 6 their own particular use. 7 Thus we would, as I said, the staff would review the 8 cask design, issue a certificate of compliance, with specific 9 conditions. The reactor utility, the reactor operator 10 licensee, would be provided a general license to use these 11 casks at their site. They would register as users and each 12 time they proceeded to add a cask on of this type for which 13 they were registered to use they would notify NRC. We would O 14 maintain a computerized tracking record of all these casks, 15 and would be knowledgeable of what types of casks and what 16 numbers of casks were at each site, and should anything arise 17 in terms of a quality assurance question or so forth, we would 18 in coordination with NRR and the regions, and Vender 19 Inspection Branch, be able to go inmediately to the particular 20 users and alert them and take out whatever other follow-up 21 action might be necessary to ensure thet the problem was 22 settled. 23 (Slide) 24 MR. ROBERTS: Getting into the details of this 25 activity then, we propose in the rule to limit this to spent HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

190 1 fuel generated at the site. In other words, there will be no () 2 shipment of fuel from one site to the other. This is not 3 operated as a regional operation, for example. It is limited 4 to each reactor operator for its site, storage of that fuel on 5 that site, and this resolves certain questions that might come 6 up on material accountability also. 7 Spent fuel storage would be only in casks certified 8 by the NRC. That is, unless you chose to go to the site 9 specific route; the licensee must show compliance with the 10 conditions of cask certificate, that there are no unreviewed 11 safety questions with respect to the use of cask and that 12 there is no need for technical specification changes or if 13 there is, that a previous amendment is obtained from NRR to 14 cover this. 15 In general, I would say probably the most 16 significant amendment would be where you did not have the 17 existing crane capacity to handle hundred ton casks and had to 18 go in and make that type of modification. There are other 19 minor things that might happen. I would simply say that this 20 activity then is carried out basically under 50.59 and is 21 subsequently inspected by the resident inspector. This is not 22 necessarily different than some of the activities we are doing

o. now, because in the process of granting a site specific 24 license, a utility does have to go through basically these 25 same types of steps in assuring us that under 50.59 review, HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

191 1 reactor safety committees and so forth and documentation, 2 assuring that they have indeed looked at all these aspects. 3 Now as I indicated, we do cover material accrediting 4 and safeguards. There is a complementary Part 73 amendment . 5 attached to this, to the pre-decisional documents. This is 6 again also a procedure for a standard approach to safeguards 7 review, and covers it in a non-site specific basis. 8 Just as I mentioned, again this is not my best slide 9 but you can see that the type of facility here that we are 10 talking about is really pretty simple. This is not part of 11 the facility. This happens to be the, that is a low-level 12 waste, but you have a fence with intrusion alarms, proper 13 lighting, emergency response, and simply a pad. It is not a 14 complex system either in terms of safety or in terms of really 15 I think of safeguards. 16 The reporting and recordkeeping--I mentioned this to 17 some extent before, but there are requiremants with respect to 18 registration of the first use of a cask, with respect to use 19 of each cask as it is used. There is also a provision in this 20 for termination of license. When the Part 50 reactor operator 21 begins to cease operation and goes to a possession only 22 license, they would continue to store fuel in the, under the 23 general license in these casks, but at some point, prior to 24 the decommissioning, you would have to move that fuel out of ( fl 25 the cask. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

192 1 In other words, you would still have to have the (} 2 capability in the spent fuel pool area of the reactor to 3 unload those casks, and to be able to get that fuel off-site, 4 assuming they are storage only. 5 DR. ORTH: Question--considering that your first 6 point on that other slide, considering there has already been 7 transshipment of fuel from place to place, it says it will be 8 limited to stuff generated only at that site. 9 Does that mean people have to send it back or what 10 or how was that going to be. interpreted? 11 MR. ROBERTS: Excuse me. I think that's a good 12 point. I guess McGuire is a point in case where fuel is, is 13 from a, has been shipped from Oconee. Presumably that fuel O 14 would not go into the standardized, the standard cask. . There 15 should be presumably plenty of fuel generated at that site 16 that the need would not arise. _I. don't know of any, any 17 utility situation where there is~such a large amount of fuel 18 in a, transshipped to another basin that you would say we have 19 to use the fuel from some other site. 20 DR. ORTH: Why is that there? 21 MR. ROBERTS: What? This provision of limited fuel? 22 DR. ORTH: Yes. 23 MR. ROBERTS: Well, for one thing, I think it makes 24 it easier in terms of material accountability. It also, if we  : A \l 25 are going to change the rule to include fuel shipped off site HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

193 1 to a site for storage under this provision, then I think we

                                          ,r -                               2 are going to have to look in'.o the impact of transportation 3 and the like because then you are setting up a system where f

4 you are basically setting up a regional storage system and ( 5 potentially a utility could proceed to transship from a series 6 of reactors to one reactor site and use that as a central 7 storage point, and that is not really the intent of this rule, 8 nor have we shall we say gone into a, do we have the 9 experience base that covers this either under Part 72 or I i 10 think Part 73. 11 DR. SMITH: I guess that was the question I had, 12 John. I take it then that these dry storage casks aro not 13 certifiable in terms of transporting this fuel to an MRS, to 14 another reactor, or to the ultimate burial site? 15 MR. ROBERTS: Okay. Let me answer that in this 16 fashion. Under Part 12-- 17 DR. SMITH: What are we going to do?. We are going 18 to store the dry casks at a specific reactor site, when it 19 comes time to move it, unload it, put it in another type cask? J 20 Migration? 21 MR. ROBERTS: That may be the eventuality. We 22 are--let me put it this way. We are not unaware that some of t i 23 titese casks venders will, will and indeed are now looking at 24 getting transportation certification for fuel. () 25 However, under Part 72, transportation certification HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

194 1 as I recall is renewable every five years, so there ere 2 certain provisions that would have to be worked out, and (]} t 3 somehow or another one would have to either continue to renew 4 the Part 71 or otherwise make provisions at that time, the end 5 of 20 or 30 years, however long these would be on the site, 6 that you would get a valid Part 71 certificate enforced before 7 you could move that off site to say the repository. 8 DR. STEINDLER: Before you leave that--I. guess I 9 would have a lot of problems with the notion that you can't 10 track fuel well enough to solve your accountability problem 11 and that that represents an important issue of limiting the , 12 fuel to be stored to that generated on the site. 13 I can't believe that that's a significant technical 14 problem, and so I have to go back and ask the question that 15 has been asked before. 16 If you are dealing in Part 72, the licensing and 17 general basis, with the storage of spent fuel, why do you care 18 where it comes from? The issue is safe storage. 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLEP.: Lee and then Paul and Dr. Hoody. 20 MR. ROUSE: May I help John out on this question a 21 little bit? It is really--let me clarify a little bit. It is 22 a little simpler than perhaps we have made it here. The only 23 reason for stating that this general license will cover only 24 fuel generated at the site, the main reason is Price Anderson. 25 The Commission can extend discretionary authority to cover HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 ,

195 ' 1 Price Anderson and spent fuel from one site when it is stored 2 at another,-but it has to do that explicitly. We are trying  ; 3 to cover this under general license. 4 Now Dr. Orth, as you are aware, there is a couple of 5 cases where the e is already spent fuel from one site--Oconee 6 fuel is at McGuire right now being stored. There really is no 7 reason why they wouldn't put that McGuire fuel at Oconee into 8 one of these certified casks. The way we have written the , 9 rule is to keep it simple, cover all cases. They would 10 probably have to come in and ask for an exception, and we 11 could do that very easily, so the only reason we are saying 12 generate at site is to duck that question of Price Anderson. 13 DR. SHEWHON: That takes care of me. (:) 14 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Dr. Hoody? 15 DR. MOODY: It is a very simple question, and that  ; i 16 is are these certified casks going to be constructed and thick 17 enough so that you can handle them without concern about the 18 heat irradiation? 19 MR. ROBERTS: Yes. They are. , 20 DR. MOODY: You are saying that-- l 21 MR. ROBERTS: Just a second. An example is the cask 22 that is in use at the Surry site. This is the Castor 521. 23 The wall thickness is 14 inches of modular cast iron. The  ; 1 24 wall also because of the high carbon content, and some shadow t () 25 shielding polyethylene borings within the wall, provides J HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

, 196 , i i i radiation shielding for neutron as well as gamma. 2 DR. MOODY: So that gentlemen standing close to it f) 3 means that it is supposedly quote, unquote, safe? 4 HR. ROBERTS: In this case, it is at the fabrication 5 facility, so there is nothing in it. It is undergoing testing 6 at that point, ultrasonic, hydrostatic. 7 DR. MOODY: Okay. 8 DR. PARRY: John, is there any limitation on the FC 9 rule that, at all about crossmoving spent fuel from various , 10 sites? 11 MR. ROBERTS: Right now-- 12 DR. PARRY: Does price Anderson exemption have to be 13 issued for the, for an NCF facility? 14  !!R. ROUSE: No. By spacifying under the general j 15 license, this general license, that only fuel generated at the 16 site will go into the cask, the Price Anderson coverage for 17 that reactor would cover this storage in these casks. 18 The only thing we are saying, Jack, is that if , 19 someone wants to put some fuel from another site, let's say t 20 someone wants to develop a cask storage site for all of these l 21 reactor sites at one location, then he would have to come into ' 22 us under a specific license provision, and then the Commission l 1 , 23 could then act to extend this discretionary authority and 24 Price Anderson, whereby Price Anderson would have coverage on 25 that site for fuel from other site, but it gets complicated HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

F 197 1 trying to cover that in a general license, so my instruction 2 .from Joe Silby--by the way, you get awful tough instructions 3 from Joe Silby--is to keep it simple. That's what we are 4 trying to do.  ; i 5 I might also add there was'a question of Dr. Smith , I 6 about it gets into the dual purpose cask concept and certainly i 7 we are doing nothing here to discourage that concept. i 8 As it is now, the casks we have looked at have not  ! 9 yet been certified for transportation. If they are certified 10 for transportation, the same casks, as John indicated, then l l 11 there wouldn't have to be any particular unloading of the. cask : 12 into another one. As a matter of fact, we provide under the , 13 certification of the cask basically a grandfather clause. If 14 someone came in and got his cask certified for transportation, 15 with a couple of fairly minor kind of exception, we will buy } 16 off on that under the general license for storage. If it is j 17 good enough to go down our, or the railroad, across the [ l  !

18 country, it sure as heck should be good enough to sit out on 19 the site at the reactor, so basically we would be  !

20 grandfathering transportation storage casks if they came in I l 21 for certification in the storage as well as transportation.  ! 1 1 22 Thank you. , 23 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Am I wrong? Do none of the l l 24 transportation--I thought some transportation casks had a () 25 cooling system or something in them? I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

198 R 1 HR. ROUSE: They.do. The IF 300, for example.- l I l' (} -2 CHAIRMAN.MOELLER:' Then you would permit eternal 3 storage or 20-year. storage in, on site with such a system? i i 4 HR. ROUSE: I don't think anyone would come in with 5 those type of casks for storage. They just wouldn't be very l 6 economical. Those casks were built for very young age fuel, 1

                                ~

7 so I suppose that we would have a little dilemma, but I don't 8 see that happening. 9 HR. ROBERTS: Getting into that, as a matter of , l 10 fact, fuel age in general we have'been talking five to ten i 11 year old fuel on these designs, and I think it is unlikely l 12 that anybody would want to push that, and they are basically 13 design limits in these types of casks. i 14 (Slide)  : 1 15 HR. ROBERTS: Well, this is more re less summarizing 16 back what I said earlier, that this, this regulation then 17 would, this present amendment to Part 72 would formalize the j 18 present activity we are doing with topical report design 19 safety review actions. It is based on the experience we have l J 20 had both with topical report reviews and licensee actions, the 1

]     21 issuance of specific licenses, and now and previously approved i

22 cask designs. I

!     23           What we are proposing then to do is cover 1

24 certification of cask designs in the rulemaking. This is  ! s 25 basically on the advice of counsel, and is being legally I i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

199 1 effective action. With respect to quality assurance, and 2 fabrication' inspection, at present, the quality assurance work 3 is done for us by the Quality Assurance Branch at NRA and we 4 are continuing that. Vender Inspection Branch, of course, is 5 responsible for.the inspection, and as I said, that would-6 continue, so we would continue to cooperate with NRR as well . l 7 as the, we at prescnt continue work with the NRR project 8 managers. In fact, the Oconee FRN is a joint FRN, and is soon i I 9 to come out on announcing the Part 72 license application-and l 10 some minor amendments in Part 50. j i 11 We would continue that type of cooperation'and with- i 12 the resident people under this rulemaking except that I think f - i 13 it would be a more formalized structure, a more effective [ ' ( 14 structure, and a more uniform and standardized structure for  ! i j 15 these types of casks, and as I say, there will be relatively 16 large number of casks and we will be trecking them basically l 17 over decades.  ! i 18 This is really getting into basically a mass  ; s  ! J 19 production industry, and is somewhat akin if you will to I i  ! 20 aircraft where you certify a design and people continue to  ! , t 21 manufacture it. However, I think we have got some, as you l 1 i 22 read through this, some additional controls, in particular we i 23 require recertification every 20 years, and to take into j 24 account any effect that may show up over a period of 20 years f I () i 25 for a given design.

;                                                                           f r

HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 -

200 1 Conditions for cask certification, that's in 72-507 (} 2 of the version that you have. We have covered basically the 3 fuel characteristics with rsspect to heat generation, burnup, 4 specific power. We also cover points such as the design bases 5 and criteria for structural members important to safety,_ 6 suberiticality design, radiation shielding, radioactive 7 material confinement, redundancy sealing which we continue to 8 require, adequate heat remeval signed for greater than'the 20 9 years, and compatibility with wet or dry fuel leading and 10 unloading, plus there are in 507 a number of unique 11 requirements on inspection, marking and terting, so those are 12 the conditions that would go into the review of these casks. 13 They are quite similar to the, basically the same O 14 process that we are doing now technically. There are a couple 15 of regulatory guides in the process that, that cover this. 16 One is CE 304-6, or sorry 306-4, standard for content for 17 topical safety analysis report for dry spent fuel storage l 18 casks. This is the, a stand that we took some time ago in ' 19 starting to look at standardization of reviews, and I tnink l 20 this would be updated because it has been held over basically l 21 f or the HRS rule.naking for more than a year. We would i 22 probably update this in concert with this rulamaking to 23 specifically address the cask certification. . 24 That's basically all I have to say. 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: If the utility has consolidated l 1 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

201 < 1 all of its fuel, it still can go into the dry cask? () 2 MR. ROBERTS: Yes. It could if, for a specific cask 3 design, designed to store such fuel. 1 4 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Wait now. Will the standardized 5 general license cask that you are talking about, would it take 6 consolidated fuel? 7 MR. ROBERTS: It depends on the cask design. Each, 8 you know, casks--when we say there is a standardized cask 9 design, that does not m9en that all designs are exactly alike. 10 It is a standardized review procedure, and you could propose 11 to design a cask for storage of in tact fuel or for storage of 12 consolidated fuel or you could come back and propose to, to 13 store fuel in a cask, consolidated fuel, that cask which had 14 been previously certified for in tact fuel. However, that 15 would require obviously reanalysis with respect to structural 16 criticality, and shielding considerations. 17 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: A couple other comments in terms 18 of coordination within the NRC--I gather that if you, if these 19 casks were to be approved for shipping, the Transportation 20 Certification Branch would do that. If they are to be used 21 only on site, your group would approve them. 22 Who does QA review on audit? > 23 HR. ROBERTS: QA review and audit, we go through QA 24 Branch at NRR and basically at, that cask on the site would be 25 under the QA program approved for the reactor site, which is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

202 1 the NSB Part 50. Now that, if you will, subsumes Appendix, I i (} I 2 guess.it is E of Part 71 in that it is broader. Nevertheless, 3 I would assume that in any transportation review, that the 4 transportation people would specifically look at the QA from 5 5 their point of view also simply to assure themselves that all 6 bases were covered if you will, because the design l 7 requirements for off-site transport are different and are . 8 rather prescriptive and are different for those in for 9 storage. I 10 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Who does safeguard and security? 4 11 MR. ROBERTS: That is in HMSS. That is in the 12 differences of safeguards and transportation, j i 13 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: You were just saying you presume l 14 that such and such a group would take care of a certain l ] 15 aspect. I i 16 Who coordinates all of this within the NRC? And who i 17 coordinates it within the regions or to be sure that the  ! i 18 regions are all on board?  : 19 MR. ROBERTS: Well, we develop technical I 20 instructions presently under site specific license , I

21 applications that are coordinated with the regions in their l

;                22      development with NRR also in the future on the, this type of 23      thing, plus we work with our own safeguards people.
!                24      Safeguards is within NMSS, and safeguards within NMSS also i

25 coordinates with the safeguards people in NRR, so it is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

203-

• 1 basically a joint undertaking to assure that everything is l

                                                ~

2 covered, and you don't, you do not go forward without O 3 everybody being on board so to speak. [ [ 4' CHAIRRAN MOELLER: So you. feel quite confident that ! 1 t J V 5 it is well coordinated? { 6 MR. ROBERTS: Yes.  ; i 3 7 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What do you need'from us as a p 8 Committee? 5 9 MR. ROBERTS: We would like your comments. This  ! 10 rule has been developing, been. developing considerably. We 11 have had standard comments for OGC. For example, Safeguards  ! I i i 12 has gotten deeply into it, in this, approaching this on a l ! 11 3 generic basis, for development of Part 73 to compliment this  ! 1 O- 14 Part 72, and Research and our own division have gone into this i i 15 extensively, so we would welcome any comments. f, 16 It is basically a new approach. It is an approach  ! 1 s 17 that we have been told to do by Congress, but I think it is a 18 very good approach that if done well, and if, if as I have  ; i 19 outlined, coordinated, we can meet the upcoming problems of ( 20 spent fuel storage over the next several decades. 21 MR. ROUSE: This is Lee Rouse, NHSS. In that i i 22 context, Dr. Moeller, I might indicate a little bit of the  ! i t 23 status of where we are at with this rule. l j 24 Right now, Bill has told me that next week he  ! () A l 25 expects to circulate the proposed rule with a little bit of a i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 I

204 1 revised version from, than perhaps what you have next week for 2 office concurrence among the staff. I think we are scheduled (]) 3 I believe it is July 27th to go before CRGR with the rule, to 4 give you a little bit of feel for where we stand with this 5 particular rule. 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. Other ques ~ 1s? Dr. 7 Moody? 8 DR. HOODY: This is just a comment. So if you say 9 that Congress has requested that you make this new ruling, is 10 it chiefly for the reason that the reactors themselves are 11 running out of space in water? j 12 MR. ROBERTS: Well, I think that last pa-t is true, 13 that as we go through, we will see more and more, you know, 14 dry storage. 15 DR. MOODY: What was the dry? J 16 MR. ROEERTS: Dry, well, I say dry, because number 17 one, dry is what Congress mandated, but in addition, there is,  ! 18 there is provision in Part 72 for us to, for us to license 19 somebody building an additional spent fuel storage pool either 20 at a reactor site or off a reactor site. In fact, as I 21 mentioned somewhat yesterday, when the original Part 72 was 22 adopted in November 1980, the assumption was that DOE would be 23 operating large spent fuel storage pools on separate sites. 24 That has not come to prss because in 1982, Congress passed an

i 4

25 NWPA, and changed course. It is the utility's responsibility HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

205 i 1 for interim storage, f 2 DR. MOODY: Okay. 3 DR. MOELLER: Paul?

      ,4            DR. SHEWMON:   No.

i 5 DR. STEINDLER: You indicated that the concrete 6 structures that you talked about yesterday would not be 7 covered under this rule. Is that right? l 8 HR. ROBERTS: Yes, but let me add something. We ars ; 9 presently looking at mobile if you will concrete storage [ 10 casks, reinforced storage casks somewhat similar to the type 11 of cask-that DOE proposed for the HRS, but these are somewhat 12 smaller. Right now we are looking at a design for nuclear  ! I 13 packaging the CP 9 model, and we, and as a matter of fact., I () 14 have a meeting with B&W on a design that they are going to i 15 propose for a concrete cask. Those would come potentially  ! 16 under this standard process. i 17 DR. STEINDLER: Is this proposed rule to be limited 18 to things that you can easily move? Is that why?  ! 19 HR. ROBERTS: Well, the the idea is a stand-alone 20 design that is, that is basically modular, capable of being 21 loaded, unloaded either wet or dry, and is, is effectively, 22 would be for all intents and purposes, probably mobile in 23 terms of the, that situation. 24 At a minimum, it would have to--let me put it this 25 way. These casks do not depend, for cxample, on tha Castor 4 i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

l 206 { l cask you saw standing out there on the pad, does not depend on j i  ! 2 that pad. The cask itself is the confinement and the [} 3 shielding and the structural support needed to confine that 4 fuel. 5 Whether there is an earthquake, a tornado missile 6 strike or whatever, the cask is, is a, is if you will, a 7 closed operation. 8 DR. STEINDLER: I understand that. 9 HR. ROBIRTS: That gives you your site independence 10 basically. 11 DR. STEINDLER: I guess I don't follow the 12 rationale. Lec me simplify the problem, see how far off I am.  ; i 13 The reactors have an obvious need to put the fuel i O 14 some place, and an easy way to do that is to store it on site f 15 in a fashion that you don't really have to do any active 16 monitoring or cooling or whatever have you, so somebody says 17 gee, that's great. Let's make a concrete box and put it in l l 18 and put a fairly heavy lid on the top and everything will be l l 19 fine. And you guys come along and you say well, we really l l 20 don't want you to use that old conerste box that you have l l l 21 carefully designed and that we know works, and oh, by the way, 22 you can't transship fuel because you are trying to solve an 23 administrative Price Anderson problem at the same time you are l l 24 doing a technical limitation to what is allowed on the site. l () 25 Hear me out. l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 l

207 J 1 And it isn't very clear whether or not these things . f- 2 have to be mobile, which is an issue totally irrelevant to the V) 3 business of stsring fuel, and no I have a little trouble 4 4 trying to figure out the context in which thie new rule is a 5 being developed. 6 Why not say to the world at large here are the 7 criter- r storing fuel on site, fellas, you can do it any 8 way y( st to as long as you meet the following technical 9 criteria, and we have a chance to review it, period. 10 MR. ROBERTS: Well. you are going to a site-specific 11 review then, f 12 DR. STEINDLER: This is an industry. If you are [ i 13 looking for, you can--if you are looking for a standardized l l i 0 v 14 cask design, and ny question is isn't this a bit premature 1 i 15 since the extent of experience in the industry is moderately  : 16 limited? I don't see more than a very few number of reactor 17 sites that have any kind of dry storage currently with 18 experience of I don't know how many years, excluding DOE in I j 19 the comments that you made yesterday. You are trying to 1 a 1 20 design these things in such a way that the venders can only

21 come in with one design.

22 MR. ROBERTS: No. No. In fact, as we discussed 23 yesterday, the three cask designs that I mentioned that have j 24 been approved so far vary quite, rather radically in their l () 25 design approaches, and they would all presumably be eligible 1 l j HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (2021628-4888 j

208 1 for certification here. In fact we consider that-- gg) 2 DR. STEINDLER: Unless I have the wrong picture, you 3 have got a very complicated structure out of this it strikes 4 me. It ought to be a relatively straightforward issue. 5 MR. ROBERTS: I think from our point-- 6 DR. SMITH: Maybe--because I wanted to get something 7 clarified that he is mentioning--maybe you can just summarize 8 briefly what you achieve by this rulemaking and as contrasted 9 to the way you are doing business now. 10 MR. ROBERTS: Okay. The way we are doing business 11 now, as I indicated, either you come in with a sice specific 12 application, and a design, and you review from the ground up, 13 anc it is good for that site, or in some cases-- 14 DR. SMITH: If you come back with another request, 15 you have to go through that again? 16 MR. ROBERTS: Yes. 17 DR. SMITH: On the same site? 18 MR. ROBERTS: On the site, same site. 19 DR. SMITH: Same type cask? 20 MR. ROBERTS: Actually it depends. If you--let me 21 say what was your limited, how much fuel were you proposing to 22 store e '-"nally? If you are not now proposing to expand that 23 amoun- _acl, yes, you have to come in for an amendment. 24 If you are proposing to build another additional, 9 25 you know, facility, on that site, yes, you will have to ceme HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

209 1 in for another amendment. If you had enveloped it and said I (~i \_/ 2 am going to store, as say Virginia Power did, I am going to 3 store up to 84 casks on three pads, and I am going to 4 construct one pad now and start putting casks out there as 5 they are doing, then they can continue to add ~on to those. 6 But the thing, I guess-the point I would make is 7 that we don't see this as a~ complication. We see this as a 8 simplification. We have gone through a series of topical and 9 indeed are presently going through a series of topical safety 10 analysis report reviews wherein the applicants have provided 11 a, envelope parameters that basically envelopes most sites, 12 and we go through and we do a safety review on those and at 13 the end of that we issue a safety evaluation report and letter O 14 of approval, but it has, as I say, no legal standing. This 15 rule basically changes that, and formalizes that review,.and 16 says that once you have reviewed that design, a utility can 17 come in and register to use it and then don't have to go 18 through the entire site procedure process of a site specific 19 license application, review, et cetera. 20 They can simply register to use it, go through their 21 50.59 review. It will be inspectable. Everything is 22 inspected. And they can proceed to use these on their site. 23 That now if--in any standardization process admittedly, 24 if--you are basically overdesigning for some sites. If

   't
\/      25 somebody wants to come in and say for my specific site, I l

HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION --- (202)628-4888

r 210 1 prefer to build a concrete box, as you say, and in fact if you 2 looked at the new tech design that is basically a~ concrete 3 box. If you want to design that for--I have got a seismic . 4 situation of .15 G on my site for the SSE. I want to design ' 5 to that, you can come in and do that. It is on the site 6 specific basis, though. So we think'that this actually 7 simplifies the process, and some people, we are leaving < 8 _ freedom, though. , 9 Basically the utilities can go with the standardized 10 process. Everything is very uniform and carr_ed out, or they , 11 can continue to go for a site specific process because  ! 12 admittedly this is a probably overkill on the design to some 13 extent, but we are providing, as Congress told us to do, this 14 process, and it is increasing I think the options if you will 15 for dry storage at reactors and also wet storage continues to 16 be available if somebody should want to build a pool, but I 17 think costs generally for--a pool would tend to be unused for 18 a large fraction of the, as filled over a period of use, 19 pretty large module. 20 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Other questions or comments? 21 Okay. Thank you, John. And that brings us up to 8:15, and.we 22 are now ready to begin the review of the low-level waste form 23 to polyethylene high integrity containers, and John Greeves 24 will be the leadoff for that. John? ( 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Stan, while we are breaking, can HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 .~- , _ . - - . , - _ . . _ . . ~ _ .- - -- - . - - . _ _ -__ ,-

211 1 you move Dr. Moody's microphone so it is closer? 2 MR. GREEVES: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 3 We are here this morning to provide background material on two 4 areas, the first being high density polyethylene high 5 integrity containers, and the second area being an update on 6 cement waste form status. Both of these areas have had some 7 controversy associated with them, and we would welcome any 8 comments from the Committee on these. 9 With us today we have John Surmeier, the branch 10 chief of the Technical Branch. John is over here on the left. 11 On my direct left we have Dr. Michael Tokar, a section leader 12 in John's branch, the Engineering Section,. We have also with 13 us several consultants who have been helping us in these 14 topics. 15 First I would like to mention Dr. Stuwart Silling 16 over by the microphone on the left. Stuart is from Brown 17 University, an assistant professor at Brown University in 18 solid mechanics, and also with us today is Peter Sou from 19 Brookhaven National Lab, up to the left, who you heard from 20 before in the past on these topics. 21 What we are going to do is Mike Tokar is going to 22 give some background material first on the high intensity 23 polyethylene history, and then we will have Dr. Silling give a 24 discussion of his report. I understand all of you have copies () 25 of this report, so he will be going over his resu'ts. At the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION ---(202)628-4888

212 1 end of that, I will summarize what we are going to be doing in (} 2 the future on this topic, what our plans are, and then after 3 that, Mike Tokar will present a summary of the cement 4 solidification and waste-form reviews.for you. So with that, , 5 Mike, please start with the high density. 6 DR. TOKAR: Good morning. John has done well in his 7 introductory remarks, but I would like to state for the record 8 that I am Michael Tokar. I am the sectional leader of the 9 Engineering Section in the Division of Low-Level Maste and 10 Decommissioning. 11 The Engineering Section has primary responsibility 12 for the technical review of matters related to low-level waste 13 form, and stability.

 'O  14            The staff routinely acquires assistance in 15  performing this activity, typically from national 16  laboratorias, commercial ener- --4'es, institutions, or from 17  universities. And in the pe    .uiar instance we are going to 18  be talking about here today, it is a good example of-this, and 19  that we have acquired in the past assistance on the high 20  density polyethylene high integrity container issue from both 21  Brookhaven flational Laboratory and most recently from l     22  Professor Silling of Brown University, as John mentioned i

23 earlier. l 24 I am going to very briefly give you some perspective 25 as to where we are right now in this area, and by going over HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATIOli -- (202)628-4888

213 1 some of the chronology, to give you a better understanding 2 also I hope of how we got to where we are right now. 3 Current situation is as follows--we are reviewing 4 three topical reports from three different venders on hich~ 5 density polyethylene high integrity container designs. High 6 density polyethylene HICS have been kept for several years at 7 the Barnwell, South Carolina,'a low-level waste disposal 8 facility. There is a list of the certificates of compliance 9 that have been issued by South Carolina in your package of 10 handouts, and I will discuss those briefly in a minute. 11 over the past few years, the certain activity that I 12 alluded to earlier at Brookhaven and at Brown University has 13 raised some questions concerning the ability of these O 14 polyethylene high integrity containers to provide the 15 long-term 300 year structural stability that is required by 16 density Part 61. 17 DR. SHEWHON: Mike, did Barnwell specify the high 18 density polyethylene, or why is it that they seem to have 19 gotten fixed on this as a material? 20 DR. TOKAR: They didn't specify it, but actually the 21 whole concept of high integrity containers, and I understand 22 it was an outgrowth of activity at Barnwell at South Carolina, 23 they introduced the concept of containers for low-level waste 24 disposal, and I guess it happened at the time that l I 25 polyethylene was one of the candidates that in fact it was the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 .

214 1 main candidate, in the early '80s for this kind of g-) 2 application. \_/ 3 MR. GREEVES: .Let me add that was prior to Part 61 4 promulgation, and frankly, the use of the containers was far 5 better than what they were doing at the time. It has  ! 6 obviously been an evolution in the stabilization business for 7 low-level waste, and that's when they were starting to get 8 first used back then, and they had some problems with leaking 9 packages, et cetera, and they went to a product that was far 10 better than what they had been using prior to that day. 11 DR. SHEWMON: Fine. Go ahead. 12 DR. TOKAR: As I was saying, you find a table that 13 lists the certificates of compliance that have been issued by 14 the State of South Carolina. We can see they go back to 1981. 15 Most of these that are on the list are for polyethylene 13 containers. There are two types of containers that are not 17 polyethylene. Those are near the bottom of the list. They l 18 are the new pack FL 50 for allium 255, and the Chichuba fiber 19 reinforced polymer impregnated concrete disc.  ! 20 You will also note that although we are reviewing i I 21 presently three topical reports on three different venders, 22 which happen to be TFC Nuclear, Chem Nuclear, and what was the 23 third--Hittman, Westinghouse Hittman--you will see a number of 24 these that are from companies that are not under review by us () 25 currently. The reason that it is possible is that these HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                                -.   ,_- ._   , , = , , - , - _ - . . - _      . - . . ,

215 1 containers are admissible at E . lina with the

  ~s  2    certificate of compliance that        .     ..usd by South Carolina, 3    which by the way, they issued after they had conducted some 4    technical review by their own staff.

5 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What is the volume? I see the 6 first one on the list is 55 gallon, run of the mill. What 7 volumes do they contain? 8 DR. TOKAR: Well, if I understand the numbers 9 correctly, there is kind of a mix here in terms of gallons and 10 cubic feet. The larger ones go up to several hundred cubic 11 feet. 12 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: So you are talking a thousand 13 gallons or more?  : A

 \~/ 14                DR. TOKAR:     If I am not mistaken--there is a 15    Westinghouse person herr--I think the 500, HIC is a 500 cubic                    !

16 foot item. And the FL 50, for example, was a 50 cubic foot 17 for allium. 18 Turning to the chronology of events then, as I l I 19 mentioned earlier, as you can see from the table, the use of i 20 polyethylene HICs began in the early '80s, and in the State of 21 South Carolina. ve, as John mentioned earlier, promulgated 22 Part 61 in the 1982 timeframe. 23 CI! AIRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me. Do you meet--I gather 24 South Carolina is an agreement state, and do you meet with () 25 them periodically and you review their review procedures and i HERITAGE REPORTI!IG CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 _, . ~- - .__ _ __ _ _ . _ _ .

216 1 check out their laboratory testing facilities-and so forth? 2 MR. GREEVES: We meet with them regularly, yes. ks/') 3 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: So you are fully aware? 4 MR. GREEVES: I don't--as far as their laboratory 5 testing facilities, I personally have not been to their 6 laboratory-testing facilities, but we meet with them on a 7 regular basis. 'When I say regular, several times a year, and 8 we meet with all three of the material agreement staff, and 9 try and keep them informed of the status of these reviews. We 10 send them copies of all topical reports and where they have 11 comments we take those into consideration in our review. 12 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 13 DR. STEINDLER: Let me pursue that just a minute. 14 Are you accountable for ensuring that the procedures that they 15 go through meet your criteria? 16 DR. TOKAR: Well, not exactly; we, as I understand 17 it, a few years ago, did review taeir criteria, and that the 18 criteria that they used in assessing the acceptability of 19 polyethylene high integrity containers. That was a fairly 20 limited effort as I understand it. It was before my time in 21 the low-level waste container, and solidification medium area, 22 but a staff at the NRC did review the South Carolina criteria, 23 and as I understand it, a determination was made that the 24 criteria were consistent with Part 61 requirements. No 25 determination was made as far as I know or no review was HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 J I

217 1 conducted of the actual technical review that was conducted by 2 South Carolina for these high density containers or any other-

  )J 3          areas that I-know.

4 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me, Dr. Tokar, Do you 5 have vugraphs of your charts? 6 DR. TOKAR: Yes, I do. 7 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Could you go to the podium and 8 show them? I gather some members in the audience are having 9 trouble knowing where you are and so forth. 10 MR. GREEVES: While he is going up, let me just 11 mention that as I said, these topical reports have evolved 12 over time, and back in the '84 timeframe, the NRC got together 13 with all three of the burial site agreement states and the O \/ 14 agreement was that on a generic basis, the NRC staff would 15 review the various topical reports. There had prior to that 16 time been some customized reviews mostly by the State of South  ; l 17 Carolina, and so that's the status at the present time. We ! 18 are reviewing the topical reports on a generic basis, and i 19 providing the results of our reviews to the three disposal 20 sites. 21 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: But Jim, when you have an 22 agreement state, and the NRC has delegated or whatever the 23 word is to that state to inspect licensees and so forth, you 24 go in there and you look at the their staffing, their budget. () 25 You check out the CVs on every one of their professional HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

l 218 1 staff, and make sure they meet your standards, and you review 2 and approve that program and you do it officially or formally (v~) 3 on a periodic basis. 4 I don't hear that you are doing this with the states 5 in terms of their waste reviews. 6 MR. GREEVES: There is a program within the state  ! 7 program unit that does these reviews. The agreement states 8 have the authority to license various activities, and on a 9 regular basis, that program is reviewed by our state programs 10 group, and Kathy, can you, Kathy Snider is in the audience, 11 with state programs. And if she can articulate any better 12 than I did what that process is, but it is basically an audit 13 type process. (v~) 14 MS. SNIDER: Can you hear me? I am with the office 15 state local Indian tribe program in state agreements program, 16 and we do go out on a periodic basis. We have a policy 17 statement that is, has been approved by the Commission where 18 we do look at various elements'you just mentioned which 19 include the personnel, the staffing, the-technical quality of 20 their licensing actions and the compliance program. We have 21 been doing that on a routine basis. , 22 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: This would include any and all l 23 staff who review the waste facilities? 24 MS. SNIDER: This is true.  ! 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATIOli -- (202)628-4888

219 1 DR. STEINDLER: What sort of technical (~') 2 qualifications do your people have to be able to do those v 3 audits? 4 MS. SNIDER: On our staff? Our staff consist'of. 5 health physicists, and we also have I should say say a very 6 active program including the rest of the NRC staff. We had 7 back in '83, as John indicated, and I was there at the time, a-8 NMSS to assist in the review of the South Carolina evaluation 9 of the high integrity containers. We have had assistance from 10 NHSS and NRR and the old office of INE where we feel it is 11 appropriate, and we also ask that they indicate any concerns 12 they have on a six-month basis to participate in our reviews. 13 DR. ETEINDLER: Has NMSS accompanied you on a O 14 technical review of anything going on at South Carolina within 15 the last year? 16 MS. SNIDER: Not-- 17 DR. TOKAR: Could the staff speak up a little 18 louder? I am having trouble hearing back here. 19 MS. SNIDER: Not within the last year, but I believe 20 because we are now out of--periodic basis reviews are between 21 one year and two years. We go out for a visit on a routine 22 basis, that that will be their indicated, that area of 23 interest for the next review, and I believe they will be 24 accompanying us on the next review of the South Carolina. 25 MR. GREEVES: It was a formal review. It turns out HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

220 1 we were down to South Carolina a week ago to talk about this particular technical topic. Kathy was referring to the formal l 2 0- 3 review that is, they conduct within a year and 18 month

                                                                 ~

4 program. On a more trequent basis, for example, last week, we  ! 5 were in South Carolina going over this very topic. 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: So you know the people there, you t 7 interact one on one, you exchange reports, et cetera? i 8 MR. GREEVES: As the need arises, yes. 9 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 10 DR. SMITH: I had a question. Did I un'erstand you  ! i 11 to say that NRC had approved these HDPEs in South Carolina or ' 12 in effect that they met, complied with Part 61 requirements? j 13 DR. TOKAR: No, that is not what we say, what I , 14 said. What I intended to say was that we have not reviewed an 15 approved new high density polyett.ylene high integrity i 16 container, containers at the NRC. The State of South Carolina 17 has. 18 DR. SMITH: They started using them before Part 61. 19 DR. TOKAR: And since; if you look at, if you look 20 at the list there, you will see some certificates of 21 compliance that go up to 1985.  ! 22 DR. SMITH: Is the State of South Carolina issuing, 23 I mean still continuing to use these when they are supposed to l 24 now be in compliance with Part 61? () 25 DR. TOKAR: They are still continuing to use these. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 j

221 1 Going back to the 1983 timeframe, there was a meeting, as I 2 understand it, between the states and the NRC staff, including 3 the state of, the Office of State Programs and what existed as 4 the Office of State Programs then, and an agreement was 5 reached that John Greeves alluded to in his remarks a few 6 miautes ago, wherein we agreed at the NRC to perform a service 7 in effect for the states by reviewing on a generic basis these 8 topical reports, the high density polyethylene and the other 9 high integrity containers, in addition to solidification 10 media. 11 In the meantime, the states would continue to accept 12 those containeta that they had already approved, and were 13 receiving, and would continue to do-so unless the NRC reached 14 some conclusion that there was some reason that those 15 particular materials or containers were unacceptable, at which 16 point the state would make changes in its procedure 17 accordingly. 18 DR. SMITH: I take it that's the process you are in? 19 You are going to try to make a decision? 20 DR. TOKAR: Correct. 21 DR. SMITH: Whether or not these containers can 22 stand up for 300 years? 23 DR. TOKAR: Yes. 24 DR. SMITH: Then notify the states; okay. () 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: And currently, to help me l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

222 1 understand Cliff's question, currently South Carolina in () 2 licensing the Barnwell facility, must or should be complying 3 with 10 CFR 61? 4 DR. TOKAR: Yes. There is, as I understand it, 5 an--again state programs is the office that's in charge of 6 that, but they have certain compatibility requirements. They 7 go through a compatibility review, a checkoff list of things 8 that they go against in which there is degree of compatibility 9 that are required, and the State of South Carolina, and State 10 of Washington at the Hanford site and Nevada are all in that 11 category now. 12 MS. SNIDER: If I may just add a note to that, I 13 think it is important to remember that all three of the sites 14 were licensed prior to the promulgation of Part 61, and it is 15 to the extent by license condition and order, so there are 16 some things that they won't be able to meet under Part 61, so 17 it is a case-by-case looking at the requirements of 61 and 18 implementing them in the present operating commercial sites. 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. Go ahead, Mike. 20 DR. TOKAR: I guess I have an advantage now over 21 John since his back is toward me if things get rough I can 22 hang the cord around his neck! 23 Anyway, where we were at was at the beginning of 24 this table, which is a summary of the chronology that has led 25 up to where we are right now in terms of the reviews of these HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

223 1 types of high integrity containers. /"N 2 As I started to say a while ago, the use of these U 3 began in the early '80s in South Carolina. As you can see 4 from the table of the certificates of compliance, they started 5 to. issue those in mid-1981. The meeting that I alluded to 6 also earlier began, took place in late '83, and we issued our 7 branch technical position on waste form in May of 1983, so we 8 started to receive these topical reports for review in the 9 late 1983 timeframe. 10 By June of 1984, we had received four topical 11 reports dealing with high density polyethylene high integrity 12 containers, and approximately one year later, one of the 13 venders retracted its application. That was NUS Corporation, r b 14 which decided not to pursue at that time its application for 15 approval for high integrity containers of polyethylene, even 16 though they have a certificate of compliance for one of those. I 17 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What were the reasons given? l l 18 DR. TOKAR: There were no reasons given at the time 19 in the letter that we received withdrawing the application. 20 However, subsequent to that, we learned that their i 21 concern had to do with the fact that they had had analyses ' 22 performed which indicated that high density polyethylene would 23 not possess the required structural capability for 300 year 24 structural stability, and so for reasons of concern he.ving to

  - 25 do with that particular technical issue, they felt it prudent HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

224 1 to withdraw that topical report. (} 2 DR. SMITH: Michael, is this chart telling me that 3 some of these venders have been waiting since '84 for a 4 decision from NRC? 5 DR. TOKAR: That is correct, four years. It may 6 seem like a long time, but I learned not too long ago a 7 typical ASTM standard takes about eight years to get passed so 8 I guess we are doing fairly well. 9 DR. SMITH: When you came on with your Part 61 in 10 '83, you weren't sure at that time what criteria you were 11 going to use to evaluate? 12 DR. TO. TAR: We were unsure in the case of 13 polyethylene containers what type of criteria to apply. 14 Polyethylene is a fairly new type of material at least for 15 this particular application. We have criteria for high 16 integrity containers and solidification media and the branch 17 technical position that I mentioned earlier was issued in May 18 of '83, but we, as part of the technical assistance activity 19 that I mentioned earlier also, asked Brookhaven National 20 Laboratory to assist us in developing methodology to assess 21 the capability of these containers, and to provide us with 22 something that we could use in a way of acceptance criteria in 23 reaching a determination, and that they did with a report that 24 came out in April of 1987, and that's the bullet that you see 25 listed there where it says BNL slash NRS developed methodology HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4P88

225 1 and criteria dash 1987. f s, 2 DR. STEINDLER: Did you indicate which was V 3 the--where did you get the technical paper critical of the 4 high density polyethylene as you have got listed-in the-- 5 DR. TOKAR: No. Because of the question, I jumped 6 over that particular matter, but we, a paper critical of the 7 high density polyethylene containers was delivered at the 8 waste management '86 meeting in Tuscon in March of 1986, and 9 that effort was actually supported by the corporation that had 10 withdrawn its topical report earlier. They have subsequently 11 issued or submitted a topical report for a composite container 12 which has polyethylene on the inside to provide corrosion 13 resistance, and stainless steel on the outside to provide a 14 structural capability. 15 When we received the draft topical report or draft 16 report I should say from Brookhaven National Lab, that 17 provided a model that could be used to assess the capability 18 of these containers and that provided also proposed acceptance 19 criteria with which to judge the acceptability of these 20 containers. l 21 We discussed this situation with the states, with 22 the Off. 3 of State Programs, with the venders, in a number of 23 ways. We had telephone conversations. We had meetings at 24 headquarters during the summer and fall of 1987. I also j () 25 delivered a paper that dealt in part with this issue at the HERITAGE REPORTIliG CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 1

   ~_

1 226 1 DOE low-level waste meeting in Denver in August of last year, (} 2 and we provided in October of last year a copy of the report ) { 3 and a request that the venders consider what was reported by i 4 Brookhaven in their report and the proposed acceptance 5 criteria, and to respond to us within 90 days with their. I 6 reaction to what they have heard and seen. 1 I 7 Incidentally, in terms of the acceptance criteria, 8 which acceptance cri*.eria were as follows--that the high 9 integrity containers not undergo buckling, that they not enter l 10 tertiary creep, and that they not exceed allowable membrane I 11 stresses. We discussed these criteria with, as I mentioned, 12 the venders and the states, and there was no disagreement as 1 13 to the worthiness of the criteria. Everybody voiced an I ( 14 opinion that the criteria were good criteria for polyethylene. i 15 The model that Brookhaven had developed at that time 16 was developed from standard conceptual models for thin shells 17 for metal components, and we recognize that the, there were 18 some limitation with that particular model in terms of trying 19 to apply it to a material such as polyethylene, so we made it 20 quite clear to the venders that we were not going to base any 21 final decision on that particular model per se even though the 22 model in the runs that we made indicated that there were some 23 problems with the high integrity container designs that were 24 in use and that we were reviewing with respect to their 25 ability to meet the criteria. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 -

227 1 We simply provided the model'or the model 2 description, provided.the results of some of the runs that 3 were made, said these results indicate there may be a problem 4 with your HICS meeting these criteria, you have a number of 5 ways of responding to this. You can develop your own host, 6 you can do your own calculations that show that the Brookhaven 7 calculations are incorrect, or ultraconservative or whatever, 8 you can redesign your HICS to provide greater structural 9 stability by putting nuclear hoola hoops or increasing the 10 wall thickness or whatever, or you can come up with.some-sort 11 of administrative procedure that might provide the structural 12 stability that the cor.tainer itself wculd lack. 13 We received responses to our request for further O 14 information by the end of February this year from all the 15 venders, and at that point, we contracted with Professor 16 Silling in early March to perform an independent review of the 17 venders' responses, and to use what he had in the way of his 18 technical expertise in structural mechanics to reach some 19 conclusions as to the, his perception of the acceptability of 20 these HIC designs and this particular material. 21 And basically that's'where we are at right now. 22 Professor Silling has completed his work. He has-issued a 23 report which you have a copy of, and what I have attempted to 24 do thus is to set the framework for his presentation which () 25 will now follow; are there any questions to what I have said HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - (202)628 4888 _ _ _ . . _ . _ . _ _ . _ _ . - _ . _ _ . _ _ . ~ _ _ - . - _ _ _ _ . . . _ . , _ . _ . , _ , _ ~ _ _ . - . . , , _ - - , _

228 1 so far? (} 2 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Paul? 3 DR..SHEWMON: How do you define the stress on these 4 things? You said.there was some stress limit. Sort of assume 5 it is hydrostatic load under so many feet of head or what? 6 DR. TOKAR: Well, I would prefer that Professor 7 Silling discuss the structural analysis aspects of this. As I 8 mentioned earlier, there were some assumptions made in the 9 early Brookhaven study which took into consideration what the 10 effects of the earth would be on the container. It took into 11 account also there was a way of plugging into that model 12 bridging effects in the soil and so on, but it was mainly from 13 an internal standpoint, a hydrostatic stress as I recall. 7_ C' 14 DR. SHEWMON: What pressure--okay. 15 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Professor Silling is scheduled to l 16 speak. If you had a 500 cubic foot container, roughly how 17 thick do the walls have to be to avoid buckling? j l 18 DR. TOKAR: Well, I don't want to steal Professor 19 Silling's thunder. I think what he is going to tell you is 20 that you can't really design against buckling but with this 21 kind of material-- 22 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Okay. We will wait. Is he next? 23 DR. TOKAR: Correct. 24 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Why don't we go ahead with 1 25 Professor Silling? We have another question, Marty? HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

229 j 1 DR. STEINDLER: Let me ask a question about the (~g 2 schedule again. By March of '86, you folks had an early V 3 warning from waste management '86 paper that they are, that 4 'there may well be a problem. It took a year to get the 5 methodology at least according to that schedule which you have 6 up there on the board, a year to get a methodology set to 7 determine whether you really have a problem. We are now in 8 the middle of '88, and we have been able to conclude that the 9 model that was put together by Brookhaven is deficient, but 10 maybe not so deficient as to make it useless. Is that where 11 we are? 12 DR. TOKAR: Yes. 13 DR. STEINDLER: Why, what portion of this, what I O 14 think is a fairly long delay on an issue that has to be 15 moderately important to say the least, what issues were the 16 critical ones that determined the fairly long time schedule? 17 DR. TOKAR: A couple of issues--first of all, let me l l 1 18 make sure you folks understand the nature of this business, l l 19 and in terms of what we have to work with. I have a total 20 budget of 2, roughly 2 FTE for the whole topical report waste 21 form characterization, waste form stability area, and that 22 includes my time as well as the time of the staff in the 23 division. l 24 It has some technical assistance to go along with _ () 25 that, but technical assistance it appears for 1989 ie going to HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  ;

230 1 be cut back fairly substantially because of the overall cuts

    ~5  2 end funding for the agency and a need to beef up some other (V

3 areas. 4 DR. STEINDLER: What is the approximate. magnitude'of 5 that technical assistance in terms of in units of FTE? 6 DR. TOKAR: Units of FTE, this year I think it was 7 roughly three. 8 MR. GREEVES: Maybe asking historically back in 9 these years, and I would say it is one to two max through the 10 years that you you are identifying. l 11 DR. TOKAR: This past year was a fairly high point I i 12 think, and the year before, but the point I am trying to make 13 is that there is a fairly limited amount of resource that is, O 14 we have to apply to this kind of activity, and that includes 15 when I say topical report, reviews two FTE. That includes the 16 time for appearing before this Committee, preparing for this 17 appearance, et cetera, which includes not only my time but a 18 lot of other staff time so the, when you spread that out over  ! I 19 what we have had in the way of applications, we had some 28 to 20 date topical reports alone to review, in addition to covering 21 areas like West Valley cement solidification and a whole jost 22 of other related areas, that is not really topical reports per

                                                                                   )

23 se, I think it is frankly remarkable that we have gotten as l l 1 24 far as we have in the timeframe that we have had to work with. j 0 25 MR. GREEVES: Let me add to that that the long i l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 l

231' 1 timeframe on this one recognizes engineering material that we () 2 don't have a whole_ lot of background on, and there are 3 probably only a handful of people in the country who can 4 really speak as experts on polymer mechanics, so this is one 5 of the longer ones we have had to look at because of the 6 complicated review process. Some of the other more standard 7 materials were achieved in a much shorter time. The paralleum 8 HICS were reviewed on a much more expeditious basis because of 9 the materials they were more familiar with so that's a partial 10 explanation. 11 DR. TOKAR: There is one further explanation perhaps 12 I ought to mention. In some of these solidification media and 13 high integrity container applications, or submittals, I don't O 14 want to cast bad lights on others, but the fact of the matter i 15 is that the responsiveness to staff's questions is not always 16 the fastest, and the reason for, the reasons for that are that l 17 with the certificates of compliance, for example, already i 18 hand, these things are being marketed. There is no particular 19 incentive for a given vender to respond with alacrity to staff 20 requests for information. At least that has been part of the 21 problem in the past. 1 22 Later in the day, when we get into the discussion of I 23 the cement topicals and the overall status of our review 24 situation, I think you will see that the pace has accelerated 25 very substantially over the past year, half year, to a year, HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 . - _ _ _ . _ . _ . . . . . . _ _ . _ . - _ . . - . . , . - _ . ~ - _ - - - - - - - . . . - - - ~ -

232 1 and that we have in fact made a lot of progress in the past 2 six to ten months. 3 DR. KERR: Earlier I thought you said that you had

• 4 developed criteria for containers that were not polyethylene.

5 DR. TOKAR: Correct. , 4 6 DR. KERR: Fairly early; apparently those cr'teria i  : 7 were not appropriate to judge polyethylene container or you 8 just didn't know how to compare the characteristics of a 9 polyethylene container with your criteria? What was the I 10 problem?  ; 11 DR. TOKAR: It was more the former than the latter. 12 I want to be candid that the technical position on high  ! 13 integrity containers and waste form stability in the area of A

 \"I 14 high integrity containers is very general. The criteria that l

15 are called out are fairly general cr$teria. They are useful 16 criteria in the case of metal alloys or concrete or ceramic l 17 brittle materials. They require things like drop tests and so } 18 forth to be conducted, but the polyethylene material, as John ' l 19 has mentioned, is fairly esoteric one, and the properties of l 20 this material, as you will hear from Professor _Silling in a 21 few moments, are so different and unique that they require a 22 special, special criteria we believe. 23 DR. KERR: Is what you are telling me that the 24 polyethylene does not meet the criteria that you developed, or () 25 that you don't know whether it meets the criteria or not? 2 **.*?^ * **f "T " f "" ^^T3 1.-- g 23628-4888,- . _j

233 , l' DR. TOKAR: We did not have' appropriate. criteria for 2 polyethylene HICS in the 1983 technical positions: is what I am l ( 3 saying. { l 4 DR. KERR: I guess I don't understand why if your f 5 critaria were general, had tx> do with drop tests, and strength  : 6 and these kinds of things, that it isn't clear to me that they - 7 had to be material dependent. , 8 DR. TOKAR: Well, let's give you an example. With a ! 9 concrete HIC fiber reinforced polymer impregnated concrete HIC r 10 such as the Chichubu HIC or most metallic type allow HICS, one , I 11 would not expect buckling to be a significant problem because i B 12 they have fairly high strength. Concrete doesn't buckle. And 13 we did not have, therefore, in the 1983 timeframe, enough  ; C)  ! 14 information to believe or to realize that there would be a # 15 need for criterion dealing with buckling, so that particular 16 technical phenomenon is not addressed in the technical 17 position as such.  ! l 18 .. GREEVES: We know more about these materials now , l 19 than we did in 1983, and this is only one area where we have , l 20 had to add some criteria to help us make a decision. I 21 DR. KERR: It really wasn't a material problem. It 22 ,was the fact that you hadn't specified some of the criteria 23 that ,ou later determined to be relevant? 24 MR. GREEVES: That is correct. 25 DR. KERR: The container should not buckle, for HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

234 1 example. Okay. 2 DR. TOKAR: Criterion that the container should not (}_ 3 buckle probably ought to be a general criteria for all 4 containers. However, it was not recognized in '83 as a 5 phenomenon of concern. 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Well, let's move on with Dr. 7 Silling. 8 DR. MOODY: That is a classic engineering problem is 9 you think of the long-term effects of any given material, not 10 30 years, but 300 years. 11 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Could yoit repeat that, Dr. Moody? 12 We couldn't hear it. 13 DR. MOODY: What I was saying is maybe it is just 14 because of my background as a geologist when you think of 15 things in terms of hundreds of millions of years, but to get 16 back to just classic engineering thinking, it is, the thinking 17 is often very short-term in terms of 25 to 30 years versus the 18 length of time that we are talking about here for this 19 particuler container of just a 300 year lifetime, so if--that 20 is always true for any material. 21 Its short-term versus its long-term lifetime can be 22 highly variable depending, of course, on the environment that 23 that material is in. 24 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. Welcome, Dr. Silling. 25 PP.0FESSOR SILLING: Thank you. My name is Stewart HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

235 l 1 Silling. I am the Assistant Professor of Engineering at Brown eg 2 University. As Mike told you, t3e NRC staff requested that I U 3 review the structural mechanics aspects of designs for 4 polyethylene high integrity containers. I began this review 5 by doing a literature search on mechanical properties of  ! l 6 polyethylene, and before long, it became clear that there were l 7 problems. 8 It is difficult for me to understand why they are 9 using this material. Its structural properties are not 10 particularly good. It creeps. It cracks. It is insensitive j 11 to radiation. 12 CHAlRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me. You are in 13 cngineering. What kind of engineering? w 14 PROFESSOR SILLING: Solid mechanics. 15 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. Go ahead. 16 I'KOFESSOR SILLING: I teach courses in general solid 17 mechanics at the undergraduate and graduate level, and I do 18 research in that area. 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 20 PROFESSOR SILLING: All the designs are fairly 21 similar so for the that sake I will talk about this generic 22 HIC which is a cylindrical torosopherical dome familiar dome 23 4 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, made of half inch thick 24 Marlex CL-100, which is a linkable high density polyethylene () 25 made by the Phillips Chemical Company. This is not one of the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

236 1 high tech plastics you may h' ave heard about with super (} 2 mechanical properties. 'This is a fairly carden variety type 3 of polyethylene. 4 Crosslinking refers to a chemical reaction which 5 following the molding progress joins the polymur molecules 6 together forming in effect a very large molecular weight 7 polymer. 8 Just to get an idea of the magnitude of the loads to 9 which these structures will be subjected, I-have written down 10 a couple of figures here. The loads come from the weight of 11 the soil, the overburden, and these are quite substantial 12 loads. They will be strongly affected by the depth of burial, 13 certainly the soil conditions, the densities, the moisture O 14 content, the friction angle, and so forth. 15 The configuration in which these structures are 16 buried will make a big difference in the loads; also whether 17 they are isolated or stacked on top of each other. Arching is 18 well known effect in the engineering of buried structures. It 19 refers to the fact that the load to which a buried structure

20 will be subjected depends on the relative stiffness between 21 the structure itself and the surrounding soil. A very stiff I

22 structure will tend to attract more than its fair share of 23 load, that is, more than the load, more than the overburden 24 which is geometrically on top of it. 25 On the other hand, a floxible structure will be HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4885

237 1_ subjected to less load. It is not clear-for reasons I will f'"3 2 explain later which is the better situation from the point of V 3 view of HICS. 4_ Well, just as an order of magnitude estimate, I have 5 written down these figures--21 psi as the vertical load on the 6 top of the HIC, and 7 psi as_the lateral load on the sides. 7 DR. KERR: In order of magnitude? 8 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes, I do. Well-- 9 DR. KERR: Then a-factor of ten? 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: More like plus or minus 50  ! 11 percent. l 12 DR. KERR: Okay. 13 PROFESSOR SILLING: We will see later that these O 14 designs are not really in the ballpark as far as the, being , 15 able to sustain these loads, so it is not worth being very 16 precise about the loads. 17 If you add up the total forces downward on the top ' 18 of this structure, it comes out to 19 tons, and you can see  : 19 why this is a serious structural engineering problem. 20 Polyethylene really is not used in any serious l i 21 structural applications. It is used for consumer packaging .[ 22 and so forth. You can't build an airplane out of it. You  ! 23 can't build a building out of it. You can't build a submarine 24 out of it. The longest term applications of polyethylene that 25 I know of are for pipelines, which are designed to last 50 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

238 1 years, and a great deal of research has gone into the 2 synthesis of types of HDPE which will last even that long, so ( 3 300 years is quite a jump from what science is capable of now. 4 I will be talking about the phenomenon of creep, so I would 5 like to briefly give a definition of what that is. 5 The way the mechanical properties of polymers are 7 usually measured is in a uni-axial test in which you take a 8 bar like this, and subject it to a constant load at the ends, 9 and then observe the strain as a function of time. That is

                                               >                                                                           r 10              the relative elongation of the bar.                       There are three general l

11 classes of material responses. The first is elastic, which is  ; 12 an instantaneous strain which disappears as soon as the load  : 13 is removed, so that an elastic material will return to its l O 14 original shape after unloading. I 15 In a plastic response, the strain is again 16 instantaneous, but this time it is non-recovnrable. It is  ; 17 called a permanent strain, and once you deform a structure l 18 basically it retains some of its deformation. 19 Creep is defined as any time dependent strain of a 20 material under constant load. This includes both recoverable , 21 and non-recoverable strains. The time scalings for this  ! 22 phenomenon vary widely from microseconds to many years. . 23 Microseconds say, for example, the Navy is thinking about t 24 using viscal elastic or creeping materials as coatings for  ; 25 submarines because the time scale involved in this, that HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 7

239 1 response is just long enough to absorb sonar from enemy 2 submarines, thereby making the submarine hard to detect. 3 Glaciers are the other end of the time scale in which creep is 4 responsible for the large flow of glaciers over a period of 5 many years. 6 (Slide) 7 PROFESSOR SILLING: Creep is the primary mode of 8 deformation over the long term in polymers. 9 In the short term, if you just run a short-term 10 uniaxial stress test, you will find that the response is 11 mainly plastic. There will be elastic strains for sufficiently 12 small stresses, but if you pull it hard enough, you will get a 1 13 plastic response. Over the long term, with low to moderate O 14 stresses then, creep is the predominant mode of-deformation in l 15 all, in most solid polymers. Very little data is available 16 for the creep of Marlex CL-100 over the long term at low 17 stresses, which are the primary issue as regards HICS. I 18 In a minute I will show the, one of the few 19 available sources of data for, for this material in which we 20 will see that Harlex CL-100 creeps extensively. l l 21 (Slide) 22 PROFESSOR SILLING: This is the result of a uniaxial 23 test creep or series of them as I described earlier. The 24 horizontal axis is time. Ten to the zero means one hour, ten

    ) 25 hours, up to 10,000 hours, which is about a year.                       And this is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

240 1 percent elongation. Each of these-carves represents a (~% 2 different stress, or a different load. There is an issue of Nl 3 area change in the elongation of these bars. These are 4 nominal stresses. 5 Thic is the highest stress, 1700, and you can see-- 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me. Are you stretching it 7 or compressing it? 8 PROFESSOR SILLING: Stretching it. 9 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Go ahead. Thank you. 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: You can see how extensive the 11 creep is at 1700 psi, and these are for decreasing values of

17. stress. What I want to emphasize is this lowest value of 13 stress, 500 psi, which is more or less in the range of what we O 14 would expect in HICS.

15 Now at first glance, this appears very encouraging 16 because it is flat. There doesn't appear to be any time 17 dependence in the response, but this strain is 3 percent, and 18 in terms of structural engineer, that is really a very large 19 strain. Normally in the design of typical structures you are 20 working at strains of less than a tenth of a percent. 21 Also this value of 3 percent strain is six times 22 what you would expect from just an elastic analysis of the 23 response, which is the type of analysis that the HIC venders t 24 did. 25 The only way to explain this that I know of is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

241 1 through primary creep, creep that'happens in early stages of (' 2 the test. 3 (Slide) 4 DR. STEINDLER: You compared that value to a 5 structural criteria. .Is there some reason for doing that 6 since we don't do that in building structures? , 7 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes, I didn't hear your last-- 8 DR. STEINDLER: We are not building structures. I 9 mean that seems like a very severe criteria. 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: Structure is any object in the 11 sense I am using it which supports load. It is true that we 12 are not building an airplane. I will talk in a minute about 13 the significance of large strains. O 14 (Slide) i 15 PROFESSOR SILLING: The way creep is handled in 16 terms of design is, assuming a constant load, is you define  ; 17 something called a secant modulus which is the time dependent j 18 analogue of the Young's modulus which you may have, nay recall 19 from any engineering classes. The secant modulus is simply 20 the stress divided by the current strain, which is time 21 dependent in the case of creep. Based on the data I have just 22 showed, I arrived at e secant modulus for Marlex CL-100 of . 23 16,700 psi, which is about a factor of six less than the 24 e: istic Young's modulus which was used in most of the 25 calculations by the venders. 1 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

242 1 The effect of creep in the design of structures is 2 reduced stiffness, increased deflections, and the. failure 3 modes change. 4 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me. Back on your 5 statement, then you are saying the venders considered psi six 6 times higher than the one they should have been considering? 7 PROFESSOR SILLING: That is correct. 8 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 9 PROFESSOR SILLING: The normal types of structural 10 analysis techniques, including most finite element codes, 11 assume that there are no gross shape changes and the 12 deflections and strains are relatively small. This is fine 13 for most types of structures, but I want to point out why this O 14 is not adequate for HICS. 15 This, this shows a HIC, and a possible deformed 16 configuration of it. Now the torospherical dome I mentioned 17 at the beginning happens to be a rather good shape for the 18 design of pressure vessels, provided you can get the shape to 19 remain constant. 20 The reason for that is that the load tends to be 21 sustained by membrane stresses which are tangential forces 22 within the shell. These are relatively benign compared with 23 bending stresses. I sometimes call them egg stresses because 24 eggs are very afficient structures for certain types of loado. 25 In fact, if ycu are very brave, you can take an egg and HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

243 1- squeeze it surprisingly hard without it failing, and the 2 reason for that is this efficient shape. Actually eggs are 3 composite structures, but I won't get into that.  ; 4 If the shape changes into something like this, you 5 get large bending stresses at points such as these because it i 6 is impossible to have tangential stresses which will support 7 the load within this, within this ring, leading to probable  : 8 collapse in my opinion. 9 (Slide) [ 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: What I have discussed, what I 11 have discussed so far concerns only the properties of HDPE l 12 assuming that failure does not occur. Now I would like to 13 move on to the issue of failure, n 14 Failure of polymers is a very complex and difficult 15 subject and the subject of much research. In contrast to the 16 usual properties that we are accustomed to thinking of for 17 HDPE, for typical plastics, it turns out that the failure of l r 18 plastics is very sensitive to many types of environmental and 19 other conditions, including the ones I hava listed here. The , J 20 ones I want to emphasize in this discussion are the 21 sensitivity to radiation and age. We will see that both of l 22 these can lead to embrittlement and probable failure. l 23 In metals, if you, if you load a structure to l 24 stresses less than the ultimate stress, at least in ductile l () 25 metals, you can leave the load on indefinitely and expect that l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 [

244 1 failure will'not occur. The-situation is very different in 2 plastics in which the time to failure is strongly a function 3 of the load. 4 In HDPE, for short-term failure, you would have a 5 relatively high stress around 2500 psi, Land rupture would 6 occur at a certain fairly definite value called the ultimate 7 strengths or the yield strength. The time scaling for this 8 would be quite short, seconds to minutes typically, and this 9 relatively high figure, you hear the number 2600 psi for 10 Marlex CL-100. This one number is the only failure parameter 11 considered by the venders. At lower stresses, say a thousand 12 to 2500 psi, failure occura not by excessive plastic 13 deformation but by excessive creep. This is called ductile O 14 creep rupture, and the time scale for this is quite a bit 15 longer. 16 The low stress inventory is important for mix. 17 That's below about a thousand psi, in which case the failure 18 mode changes completely from ductile to brittle. Brittle 19 means failure by crack growth without extensive prior 20 deformation. 21 The time scale for this can be quite long, months to 22 years. The most complete set of data for this phenomenon come 23 from a Gerran recearcher who works for a pipeline 24 manufacturer. His name is Graube, and I will show his data () 25 next, but before dcing so, I want to make clear that this is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

245 1 not from Marlex CL-100. It is for a rather old fashioned type

 -   2 of HDPE which was available at least 20 years ago, so there 3 will be differences.

4 However, the general phenomena do occur with even 5 the newer types of materials that is are used for pipelines. 6 The way these data were collected were by the use of 7 pressurized pipes. There was a large array of polyethylene 8 pipes which were pressurized to various loads at various 9 temperatures, and what this experiment consisted of was just 10 sitting back and watching chem for 20 years, and every time 11 one of these specimens failed, they got another data point for 12 a diagram like this. On the horizontal axis you have time to 13 failure. This is ten to the minus two years, one year, ten to 14 the 6th years. 15 Now everything beyond 20 years is extrapolated, and 16 people who generate this data feel that the extrapolation is 17 reliable. It is done on the basis of high temperature 18 testing. 19 Here-- 20 DR. CARTER: Essentially all the brittle failures 21 then are postulated or extrapolated? 22 PROFESSOR SILLING: At the temperature yes; clearly l 23 higher temperatures you can see it. l 24 DR. MOODY: What is temperature at which this was () 25 done? HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

h 246 1 PROFESSOR SILLING: This curve is for 20'dogrees 2 Celcius. Other series of tusts.were done for 40 degrees, 60 ' 3 degrees and 80 degrees. 4 This dotted line shows the short-term value I 5 referred to earlier, the strength. These lower curves chow , 6 the ductile failure mode in which failure stress becomes a , 7 function of time, and the brittle mode. In the brittle _ mode, ; i 8 the dependence of stress on time to failure is quite a bit i 9 more pronounced than in the ductile mode. 10 Note that the vertical axis is a log scale, so there , i 11 is quite a bit of difference between these two.  ! t 12 DR. SHEWHON: Is the brittle transition aided or , 13 accompanied by a large amount of plastic strain? i (:) 14 PROFESSOR SILLING: He did not. strain the specimens > 15 pilor to the test. However, once the pressure is applied, i l 16 these structures begin creeping. An excessive creep is what [ 17 leads to failure in the ductile mode. i 18 DR. SHEWHON: If you have a task for a hundred

                                                                             +

19 years, was it unstressed for the first hundred years?  ; 20 PROFESSOR SILLING: No. This is continuous  ! 21 application of the load for a hundred years. l 22 DR. SHEWHON: From what you have been telling us, j 23 presumably there was creep under those conditions? 24 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes. ' 25 DR. SHEWMON: There is plastic strain before it HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (2021628-4888 ,

247 1 breaks in brittle fashion? 2 PROFESSOR SILLING: That is correct. OG 3 DR. SHEWMON: Okay. 4 (Slide) 5 PROFESSOR SILLING: That data was just for 6 unirradiated HDBE. Now I want to turn to radiation effects on 7 polymers. These are general considerations at moderate doses. 8 In general, radiation will increase the hardness and plastic 9 strength of polymers. Unfortunately, those are both 10 short-term effects. In fact, the same thing happens in 11 metals. They become harder and they get a higher ultimate 12 strength in response to moderate doses of radiation, but just 13 as in metals, embrittlement is a very important effect of 14 radiation in polymers. In fact, that's the most important 15 effect that we need to consider for HICS. 16 The creep rate in response to radiation may either 17 increase or decrease as Dr. Sou at Brookhaven found out. - 18 At low dose rates, the creep rate can actually , I 19 increase, whereas at high dose rates, for a given dose, the { l 20 creep dose, the creep rate decreases. ' 21 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What is scission? 22 PROFESSOR SILLING: Scission, that comes from the  ! 23 same root as scissors. It means breaking, cutting the polymer 24 molecules. () 25 DR. SHEWHON: Radiation you are talking about is HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 ,

 , , - .  ._    . _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ .     .. . _ _ _ , _         . - . . _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ - _ -_.- _ .. - ._ _ __      l

248 1 primarily gamma? 2 PROFESSOR:SILLING: That's right. In metals

   )

3 neutrons are more important. 4 (Slide) . 5 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: ; Excuse me. Why did you--I missed , t 6 it. Why is radiation or moderate doses not relevant? 7 PROFESSOR SILLING: What is not relevant is the fact 8 this is short-term data, short-term effect, that you would see [ 9 at high strains in a uniaxial tension test. 'There is very 10 little data available on the interaction between creep and ' 11 radiation. Dr. Sou is collecting some of that data now. 12 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you.

                                                                           +

13 DR. CARTER: Are you going to get to quantitative k () 14 now about this? It is all right to talk about radiation [ i l 15 induced effects, but are the levels that you expect in an i 16 actual case comperable to what you are talking about now? Are 1 17 you going to get to relating this to the specific case of f i ' 18 levels of exposure? i 19 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes. This is as quantitative as  ! 20 I will get in terms of radiation embrit.tlement. ' l 21 The particular experiments I am referring to herc  ! k 22 has a dose of times ten to the 7 rada, which is well within i 1 23 the required radiation tolerance in the NRC guidelines, which  ! 1 24 is ten to the 8th rads. The experiment I am describing here , O 25 is one of Dr. Sou's U bend test in which he takes a strip of 1 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  ;

249 1 polyethylene 8th of an inch thick, several' inches long, and 2' just bends it, fastens the ends together, exposes it to

 .O 3  radiation, and then he observes whether or not cracks 4  propagate around this high strain region, and indeed they do                                                          f
        -5  at this dose.

6 Actually these results are somewhat sensitive to , 7 specimens preparation and environmental conditions, 8 particularly the availability of oxygen. 9 A similar effect is seen in uniaxihl tests. This is 10 elongation st break which is another way of measuring 11 embrittlement as a function of dose, and this is also 12 sensitive to dose rate. This dropoff can occur at doses as 13 low as ten to the 7th rads for low dose rates. O 14 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: You are saying there is less 15 elongation with a higher dose? P 16 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. It is bad to have 17 less elongation because that means the material is becoming 18 brittle, 4 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 20 PROFESSOR SILLING: Okay. The next issue is creep 21 buckling, Buckling is a large deflection of a structure under 22 compressive loads occurring at a critical value. This effect

23 is strongly a function of creep in the material because of the 24 reduced stiffness of the material. One approxi ..ron for the

() 25 creep buckling load is to take the elastic, take buckling load HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

250 1 1 and modify it or multiply it by.ES over E, which is the (} 2 Young's modulus, so what I am saying is that the creep 3 buckling load should be proportional to the secant modulus. 4 We have already seen that the secant modulus is a factor of 5 six lower than the' Young's modulus. The issue of creep 6 buckling was not considered by the venders although some of 7 them did make some efforts to estimate elastic buckling loads. 8 Both the-vertical and lateral loads on the shell 9 will be important. Now this last, this last issue, is 10 significant. In the data I will show next I didn't give any 11 credit for the effects of the waste within the container or of 12 the surrounding soil and both of those will have some 13 resistance to buckling. It is virtually impossible as far as O 14 I know to estimate what that effect will be. There are 15 correlations available for stiffer structures such as 16 pipelines, but none for structures which are as flexible as 17 HICS. 18 (Slide) 19 PROFESSOR SILLING: Also there is no, there is no 20 data available that I know of for the mechanical properties of 21 the waste, sc I felt that I couldn't give any credit in my 22 analysis for the effects of the waste. 23 What this plot shows is various combinations of 24 ver*,ical load and lateral load which will lead to creep 25 buckling. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

251 1 For any combination of lateral and vertical loads, 2 you find the appropriate point in this diagram, and this will 3 tell you whether or not the, that combination of loads is 4 stable, whether it will buckle--or unstable. I'm sorry. _' 5 Stable means it will not buckle. . Unstable means it will 6 buckle. 7 The important point here is that this value of .3 8 psi is very small compared to the expected loads which are on 9 the order of 7 psi. This is why I think creep buckling is f 10 virtually a hopeless problem as far as the design of HICS are .j 11 concerned unless the effect of the waste and the soil are 12 taken into account. - 13 Now the venders performed various tests which they ( 14 called compression tests, and some of them claim that these 15 tests prove that no buckling will occur, and I want to talk [ 16 about why those tests don't mean very much. ( 17 In these compression tests, they fill the container  ; 18 with water or sand or some other rather incompressible 19 material. Then they apply the load from the ends, and they 20 ran that test for a day, and if there was no leakage, they 21 said the test is successful.

                                                                                                            )

22 The reason this is not a significant way of testing 23 against creep buckling is first of all, that the presence of 24 this incompressible material inside the container will 25 suppress buckling completely. The way to see that is by ) HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

252 1 considering a beer can. If you take an empty beer can with a 2 hole in it, you can step on .t, and it-will bucklem, but try 3 that with a full beer can with no, no holes in it, it is 4 impossible to do.

             -5           And that's why these tests don't say-very much about 6 buckling. Also they didn't run then long enough to be 7 significant in terms of creep, and they also= applied only 8 loads at the ends rather than lateral loads.

9 DR. KERR: They do say something about buckling if 10 you have container filled with water. What one is concerned 11 about buckling i', the empty container? Is that-- 12 PROFESSOR SILLING: I'm sorry. I don't understand 13 your question. 14 DR. KERR: You say that the tests say nothing about 15 buckling. It seems to me they do say something about buckling 16 as long as the container is filled with water or sand. 17 PROFESSOP. 1.ILLING: That's right. 18 DR. KERR: They don't say anything about buckling 19 for the empty container. Presumably that's the problem. 20 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. Now the waste, as 21 I said, will have some effects which may be something like the 22 effect of sand. I don't know. The waste may be compressible. 23 They may not fill the containers up all the way and that's why 24 that's where it is inappropriate to do these tests with-() 25 incompressible materials with the vessels totally full. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                       ~                  ._                                           .             .

253 1 DR. STEINDLER: The buckling graph you showed two 2 slides before, is that the shape of the curve as well as the 3 magnitudes of the inner sub's function of how massive the 4 plastic-is? 5 PROFESSOR SILLING: They are a function of 6 thickness, yes. 7 DR. STElNDLER: What are those numbers for? Half 8 inch? 4 9 PROFESSOR SILLING: These are for the generic HIC 10 which is half inch thick. 11 DR. STEINDLER: How fast do they change if I go from 12 half inch to two inches? 13 PROFESSOR SILLING: I believe these numbers are 14 fairly sensitive to thickness. On the other hand, if you get l 15 too thick, then the shell theory on which these estimates are 16 based is no longer appropriate, so I think that if you were to 17 plug in numbers for thicknesses of mvre than an inch, it would l

,                                                                                                                1 18         be very doubtful whether the theory itself is appropriate, 19                    DR. STEINDLER:    Translate for me what that means.

20 If the theory is inappropriate, what does that do to the, 21 specifically the ability of the HIC to withstand the kind of 22 loads we are talking about? 23 PROFESSOR SILLING: Buckling is very difficult to 24 predict analytically. That's why I recomnended in my report () 25 that full-scale tests at elevated temperatures be done. That l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

l 254 1 was-- 2 DR. MOODY: What is the standard t.?:kness that has 1 3 been used? 4 PROFESSOR SILLING: For the HIC designs? 5 DR. MOODY: Yes. l 6 PROFESSOR SILLING: Half inch. 7 DR. MOODY: Okay. 8 DR. TOKAR: As a practical matter, it is my 9 understanding it is not practical to go much above a half an 10 inch to try to develop these kinds of containers of this 11 material. The rotational molding process, once you try toego j 12 beyond half an inch, it becomes rather unfeasible, so going to 13 a two inch thick container is not a practical solution. ( 14 DR. STEINDLER: I wasn't suggesting that that's l 15 practical. I am trying to get a feel for what the impact of  ! i 16 say multiplying the wall thickness by four is on the scale of 17 that graph or the shape of it. 38 PROFESSOR SILLING: If I am not mistaken, these 19 loads are proportional to one over the thickness cubed, so 20 that's-- 21 DR. STEINDLER: Cubed? 22 PROFESSOR SILLING: Several--I believe so. 23 DR. STEINDLER: Is that what you said? 24 (Slide) 25 PROFESSOR SILLING: I would like to say something HERITAGF. REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

255 1 about'the significance of buckling, which is not in itself j ('g 2 synonomous with rupture of the container. However,'it does V 3 mean essentially co.11 apse, in which case the waste will be 4 supporting the load. 5 In terms of containment, one of the issues that 6 arises is excessive strains in the-kinks which will inevitably 7 be formed in a post-buckled configuration, and we have already 8 seen how large strains in radiation can give rise to failure 9 of the material. The integrity of the seals of the container 10 I think would be very doubtful in a post-buckled 11 configuration. 12 Very little is known about post-buckling behavior in 13 structures. That's a big area of research, in connection with O 14 design of earthquake resistant buildings. 15 In summary, I believe that the long-term creep 16 properties of Marlex CL-100 are virtually unknown and actually 17 this is a rather charitable statement because what is known 18 about them is not at all encouraging for these designs. ] 19 Creep was practically ignored in the designs. The 20 designers just did a small strain clastic calculation, and 21 there were no prescribed limits on the amount of deformation 22 that would occur. That's the large strain issue I was talking 23 about earlier. Brittle failure is known to occur in HDPE, 24 especially in irradiation environment. And finally, creep ! 25 buckling appears unavoidable. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

256 1 I have one more slide which discusses the prospects 2 for redesign of these things. As I said at the beginning,'I

      /}                                                                                                                                                 ,

3 don't understand why they used this material. It i doesn't make l 4 sense to me, and I believe that the problems from a structural  ! 5 mechanic point of view are fundamental and-they won't be 6 resolved by changing one parameter or another by say 30 7 percent. 8 It involves some very research, research-oriented 9 areas. None of these things is well understood. Composite j 10 materials would be a possibility. The Navy is doing a lot of 11 research on composite materials which have very good behavior 1 l l 12 under compressive loads. In fact, they are designing or they l 1 ' ~ 13 hope to design submarines which wil1 go down to depth twice as O 14 large as steel hulled submarines using composite materials. I i 15 don't know what the cost implications of that would be for i 16 HICS. I 17 That's the end of my talk. Any questions? I

18 DR. CARTER

I have a couple. When you were talking 19 about the pressures in terms of psi, you broke it down into

                                                                                                                                                          )

? 20 some fairly large ranges. You talk about around 2500 psi. , 21 You talk about a thousand and so forth. j 22 Now did you actually do any work down with the I 23 pressure you expect to be on the HICS when they are in use ] 24 which I presume is less than about 25 psi? 25 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes. I should have pointed out i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION (202)628 4888

  .. -- _ - -    _ .,_ _-._. _ ___ _ . _ _ _ __ _ _ , ,. - ._ ____ _ __..- , . _ _ ._,_. _ .                                             ..- ~-- . _ -

r 257 1 that the stresses expected in HICS are in the range of 500 to 2 a thousand typically, sometimes a little more. l (:) ' 3 DR. CARTER: If you had that, I don't recall it. l 4 PROFESSOR'SILLING: The ranges involved will be in 5 this area-here, probably 500 to a thousand, so that's why this 6 ductile to brittle trans4. tion is important, and for this 7 material, you can see that it happens, the transition happens 8 around 20 years.- , I - 4 9 DR. CARTER: Again though, as I recall, you said the I i 10 ductile problem, those are actual observations in terms of , 11 your graph with the ones, the brittle, those are all l 12 extrapolated? l 1 1 13 PROFESSOR SILLING: That is correct.  ; 14 DR. SHEWHON: Radiation effect isn't extrapolated 15 anS '. hat is superimposed on this. 16 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. . 17 DR. CARTER: The other question I had is what, what t I 18 tadiation exposure is expected for the HIC on an annual basis? 19 PROFESSOR SILLING: I am not sure what the dose rate 4 j 20 is. The only figure I have is the NRC figure of total dose of l" 21 ten to the 8th rads. Now presumably the dose rate will be i 22 greatest right at the beginning. i i 23 DR. CARTER: What does that number mean? Is that 24 the limit? I am interested in what is the actual exposure of () 25 these things in their natural environment. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                                                                                                 -258 1                     PROFESSOR SILLING: ~ I did not look into the source                                                 [

l 2 term for these things. I just used the NRC guidance. l l l 3 DR. CARTER: That may or may not be a realistic 4 number, 5 DR. SILLING: As far as I know. l 6 DR. MOODY: Put on the third slide where you have l i 7 magnitude of loads. 8 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes: 9 DR. MOODY: In terms of the natural environment I l 10 think you were trying to--  ! 11 PROFESSOR SILLING: Can't hear you.  ; i 12 DR. MOODY: Do you expect at this time when you say 13 that the orders of magnitude of the natural load of soil, you O 14 have got 25 feet in depth, I mean all--have you, how did you 15 come up with 500 psi when you only have vertical pressure I 16 there at 21 psi? Are you talking about the stress on it? 17 PROFESSOR SILLING: When I was talking about the 500 18 psi, that's the stress within the shell itself. This is the 19 load force per unit area on the top of the container from the j 20 soil. The stresses are what is going on within the shell. 21 DR. MOODY: Within the container itself? l 22 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes. l 23 DR. SHEWMON: The thin wall is only half inch thick 24 and it has to support the entire top load. () 25 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

) 259  ; 1 DR. ORTH: In your discussion of'the secant modulus, i 2 where you put in a 3 percent strain if I remember--  ; ( 3 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. I 4 DR. ORTH: What, what, where did that 3 percent come ' 5 from? Is it the one with the 500 psi and a thousand psi?- a l 6 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. To get the secant l l 7 modulus of 16,700, I took 500 psi, and divided it_by 3 8 percent. 9 DR. ORTH: That was the one aour strain. However, 10 why did you use that one hour? And I ask this--why didn't you { 11 use the hour between ten to the third hours, and ten to the l 12 third plus one hours, which is negligible and represents the , 13 long-term strain? p v 14 PROFESSOR SILLING: Well, it is still a 3 percent i 15 out here. l

 ;     16               DR. ORTH:  But it is not continuing.                      l 17               PROFESSOR SILLING:  The secant modulus is the stress
;      18 divided by the strain.      The strain is constant, so the secant 19 modulus is constant.

20 DR. ORTH: Thank you, i i 21 DR. SHEWHON: If the mode was on it fairly, and low 22 modulus could lead to buckling, then it could buckle fairly j 23 early. i 24 What happens after a thousand hours is sort of

]

() 25 1rrelevant to what it buckled in at first, isn't it? d HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

! i 260 i 1 DR. ORTH: I don't think he projected it buchling.in f t [} 2 the first hour, did you? 3 PROFESSOR SILLING: Buckling should occur on the  : f 4 same time scale as the creep occurs. So according, if I am i 5 correct and creep occurs to-the left here somewhere, within + 1  ! ., 6 the first hour, and buckling should occur within that time [ l 7 scale. [

;                                                                                 i

, 8 DR. ORTH: Then it only takes a one-hour test to t l 9 find out if these things are buckling?  ! 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: That's right. In fact, in these i 11 compression tests that the venders did, in some cases, they { s  !

;      12  ran it for a day say, and at the end of the day the thing was          l j                                                                                 !

l'3 still expanding, at which point they ended the test, so it is (:) 14 not clear what would happen at even slightly longer time i f

!      15  scales.                                                                ;

1 I i

;      16             DR. STEINDLER:  To what extent are the mechanical I

t 17 properties of that plastic a strong function of manufacturing j i  ! 18 process, the purity of the input, additives that may be 19 provided, et cetera? I l I

)      20             PROFESSOR SILLING:   That is an excellent point. The     !

I 21 properties are quite sensitive to all the things that you

 !     22  mentioned. Rotationally, molded structures, Dr. Sou has found         '

i-23 that there is an inner oxidized layer which tends to promote J 24 cracking. There are small defects in this layer which serve 1 ] 25 as crack initiators, and these cracks grow through the j HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                                                    -l 261.

1 unoxidized portion of the material. 4 i 2 It will also be sensitive to the presence of 3 impurities. I do not have any information on what the purity 4 of these, of the results material will'be from this particular 5 -process. i 6 DR. STEINDLER: Is it your general conclusion that J 7 impurities and manufacturing processes tend to be detrimental 8 to the physical property of-the final product rather thau l; 9 beneficial? 10 PROFESSOR SILLING: Yes' particularly in terms of 11 brittle failure. There is still a great deal of basic 12 scientific work going on in this area, and the gas pipeline i 13 industry is pouring money into it.

            }

1 14 Professor Brown at the University of Pennsylvania i 15 found that cracks nucleate at small, small particles within

16 the material, and these tend to promote brittle failure.

l 17 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Paul? r 1 l 18 DR. SHEWMON: I would be interested in a comment i ) 19 from the staff on what fraction of these HICS they think see 1 1 a 20 at ten to the 7th rad? I mean it is ten to the 8th that they 21 took sort of way out and they knew it was bounding the very l 22 conservative or if I back off a factor of ten to 1 percent,

;             23    get ten to the 7th or is it commonplace or what?

I j 24 DR. TOKAR: I don't have a figure for you in terms 25 of precise number, but it is my understanding that ten to the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

l 262  : l 8th rads is a value that is estimated to be achieved with I i [} 2 wastes that contain, for example, resins, and that the limit 3 really was, or acceptance criteria was really based on the l l l 4 fact that at about ten to the 8th rads they start to see some 3 e 5 deterioration in the resins' ability to continue to absorb ' 1 ,' 6 ma '.e ri a l . It is not, really wasn't really intended to be a j 7 limit per se on the material construction of the~high  ! 8 integrity container, but if material turned out.to be de l 1 L ! 9 facto-wise a number that was used for that purpose simply i 10 because that was estimated to be the upper bound if you will  ! i 11 for resins. 12 DR. CARTEP: Is that for 300-year period? l .i j 13 DR. TOKAR: It goes up as astonically, so th> major I

(:) 14 portion of the dose will occur in the first several years.

]

15 DR. ORTH

There is two aspects to that. That is >

t 1 16 the range in which most, essentially all of the plastic  ! I ! 17 materials resins are--elastic material in that sense normally { l 18 vinyl ben yne, polystyrene, all of these things start to i i

!                                     19  decompose in there.                          There has been a lot of test work,                           !

t j 20 coating and everything else. By the time you get to that l i 21 point, almost all organic material starts to fall apart, so 4 e i 22 that is sort of a bounding limit as you say, and it is true i I , 1 i i 23 that resins loaded with fi ssion products, you can calculate j 24 they get to there, but tha'; includes a lot of different kinds 4 O 25 of radiations, including some with very, very short half l i i 1  ! HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 j

    . _ _ . ~ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ . _ .                          _ _ _ ._. _ . _ .. _ . ._ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,.

263 1 lengths for the particles, so that again, the actual  ! i 2 trradiation at the boundary of a container full of resin would O 3 be very small compared to that ten to the 8th that.a resin , 4 particle might get. 5 DR. SHEWHON: Most of this is gamma. The range of i 6 it would be relatively long.  ; 7 DR. ORTH: But it is not. 8 DR. SHEWHON: Okay. , 9 DR. ORTH: Mixed fission products, by the time you [ 10 get out there, it is strontium and cesium even though cesium 11 has lot of gamma, but by the time you put it in something like { r 12 a matrix, that is shielding. l i 13 DR. SHEWHON: Yes, s 14 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Other questions for Dr. Silling? 15 DR. KERR: Well, aside from structural properties,  ! 16 it would appear to me that if the ten to the 8th criterion is  ; 17 retained, that itself rules out the polyethylene, and indeed f 18 we could have predicted it from the beginning. As you say, 19 that characteristic of polyethylene is not something new. { 20 DR. TOKAR: That statement is inconsistent with what i 21 I think I just heard Dr. Orth say, which is that the l i 22 polyethylene factor would not be expected to reach-- i i 23 DR. KERR: I said if your criterion is ten to the [ i 24 8th, which it was, I say that criterion rules out the { () 25 polyethylene. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                                                                ~264 1                            DR. MOODY:   By itself.
~

/T 2 DR. KERR: Yes. V 3 DR. TOKAR: If you pro,4ect that the polyethylene 4 will reach ten to the 8th rads. 5 DR. KERR: I thought you had set theat as the 6 criteria. 7 DR. TOKAR: That is true. 8 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Okay. Let's wrap thac portion 9 up. Let me ask--excuse me. 10 DR. SMITH: I was just. curious as to what the next i 11 step in this process will be? In other words, have venders  ; 12 had an opportunity to review Dr. Silling's report? 13 DR. TOKAR: Mr. Greeves will address that. > 14 MR. GREEVES: We wanted to sort of wrap up.  : 15 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Let tae ask how long--thank you, 16 Dr. Silling. 17 MR. GREEVES: The wrap-up is 30 seconds. i 18 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Let's wrap it up because we are 19 running over time. 20 MR. GREEVES: Everyone has a copy of the schedule on 21 the back of Mike Tokar's first presentation. I think the 22 important points are that we have sent letters to all thren of 23 the venders for these HICS and in those letters we have asked 24 them to get their comments back to us in 30 days, p\ I 25 We have met with the State of South Carolina, as I. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

265 1 1 mentioned to you earlier, so we are looking to get those .l 1 2 comments from the three venders by July 15th, and we will set ' (' J\ . 3 up a meeting with each of those venders at.that point in-time, 4 and we intend to be making a final decision on these 5 polyethylene high integrity containers later this summer. 6 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: And from us, at this time, is 7 this primarily an informational presentation? 8 MR. GREEVES: I think that I would characterize it 9 as informational. You asked us to brief you on it. I think 10 we ought to take a look at what the comments from the venders 11 are in light of this report, and at that point in time we can 12 talk about further interaction. Obviously we will keep you 13 informed of the status. A

 \/    14            DR. KERR:     Do you have some reservation about ten to 15 the 8th criteria in making polyethylene unsuitable?

16 MR. GREEVES: The ten to the 8th? 17 DR. KERR: Am I mistaken? Is that not a criterion? 18 DR. TOKAR: It is a criterion. Yes. l 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: I could make a statement. It is 1 20 a little bit facetious, but not totally. If you could 21 guarantee ten to the 8th at the end of a thousand years, 22 great. The polyethylene thing dissolved, it is no longer of 23 concern to anyone, and instead of archeologists at some future l

       'i time digging down and finding these things, they have

() 25 disintegrated, that would be wonderful. If you could really-- HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION.--

                                                 ., - _ _ _ , _ - _ _ _(202)628-4888
                                                                         - - - _ _ ~ , , - - - . _ - . _ .-. )

266 1 DR. KERR: I thought we were designing a 300-year 2 container. 3 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Three hundred or a thousand, 4 whatever you want. 5 DR. KERR: Again, is it, I mean the ten to the 8th 6 criterion, in and of itself, by itself, does not rule out 7 polyethylene in your viar.' 8 DR. TOKAR: That's right. Ten to the the 8th at a 9 point at which I understand at least polymeric type materials 10 like B resin and high density polyethylene I gather, starts to 11 degrade, but that doesn't mean the stuff is going to 12 instantaneously fall apart as soon as you reach one times ten 13 to the 8th rads. It was 9.99, ten to the 7th rads, so it is O 14 simply a guideline number that we use as a general-- 15 CHAIRMAM MOELLER: Let's get a comment or question. 16 Is that a realistic number? 17 MR. SURMEIER: I hope I am right, but I may cause 18 more confusion. I thought the TP, we basically had factors we 19 provided some sort of safety factor, so ten to the 8th rad 20 dion't necessarily mean that we expected that every or even 21 any of the containers would have ten to the 8th rad in them at 22 any time. And Dr. Orth in his comment about the breakdown of 23 the resins at that point in time kind cf shows me that that's 24 why the staff put that in there saying we are not going to get , 25 up to ten to the 8th rad into the, into the container, but HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

267

                                                      ~

1 this ir a limit on which we.want to compare and see whether or g- 2 not the material is adequate =to handle'that, the level, but' (/ 3 there would be a safety factor within it. 4 Is this your understanding, John? You were more' 5 involved in it back at that time than I was. 6 MR. GREEVES: I think it was intended to be a 7 conservative factor, and along with a lot of other things with 8 polyethylene HICS that have been uncertain, we had Brookhaven 9 look at a range of radiation doses, and I believe~Dr. Sou has l 10 talked to the group about that historically and we can bring 11 him back in the future and show some of the results of his 12 range of radiation effects, and it varies as to range. You 13 get some good things happen and you get bad things happening. p) s 14 DR. STEINDLER: I think the issue is fairly 15 straightforward that people are bringing up, namely, 16 prospective ten to the 8th, it is generally known in the 17 industry at about a ten to the 8th, then things fall apart. 18 Then why is it that high density polyethylene remains a viable 4 19 candidate for a HIC? That's the question. 20 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: If indeed ten to the 8th is a 21 realistic number. 22 DR. STEINDLER: Regardless of whether it is 23 realistic, it is a spec that somebody sets. 24 DR. TOKAR: Wait a minute. Nobody said that () 25 polyethylene high integrity container is going to fall apart HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

266 1 at ten to the 8th rads. I want to get that clear on the /~'g 2 record. k./ 3 DR. SHEWHON: Your contractor shows they become 4 pretty brittle at that. 5 DR. TOKAR: As a result of work that has occurred in 6 the last three months. 7 DR. STEINDLER: No. I'm sorry. I don't think that 8 is correct. I think Don Orth's comment is a valid one. It 9 has been known for a long time that plastics in general fall 10 apart at about ten to the 8th rad. 11 DR. TOKAR: We have had work done at Brookhaven 12 National Laboratory in the resin area which indicated that at 13 ten to the 8th rads you started to get some indication of O 14 degradation in the resin, and the point is I don't think that i 15 there would be--I am not a resin expert, but the point I make i 16 is that the point that even if that did occur, I thought I 17 heard you say was that-- 18 DR. ORTH: Let me clarify slightly what I said. I l 19 did not exactly equate all resins and all polyethylenes and i 20 all nylons and all dacrons and every other kind of plastic in l l 21 the same category. l 1 22 What I said is that, and it still holds true, that 23 in that range, essentially all of them, you start breaking l 24 eriough of the crosslinkages, you start generating other j O- 25 radicals, so that regardless of what specific kind of plastic I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

269 1 it is, they start in effect turning into various crystalline, (mj 2 essentially crystalline type of derivative rather than.long V 3 change. polymers because you-busted the things up.- 4 Now what happens structually depends upon the 5 specific polymer that you start with. They are all, as I 6 said, going to start to change properties, and some of them 7 change properties very drastically before that, again 8 depending upon what it is that is holding them together and 9 what chemical interactions have taken place in between. 10 By tite time you get to ten to the 9th, very few of 11 these things have, are good for anything, and I am just, I 12 just draw that as a general conclusion. I am not going to 13 equate the resin. Resin I can tell you about in detail, what 14 happens to them at that range. 15 DR. TOKAR: Dr. Sou has done the work on irradiation 16 effects. 17 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Let him speak. 18 DR. SOU: I think there is a lot of truth in what 19 both sides are saying. We have carried out some 20 pre-irradiation test on high density polyethylene 100 and  ; 21 carried out short-term density tests afterward at relatively j 22 low dose rates, a few times ten to the 3 rads per hour.  ! l 23 Ten to the 7th rad, you do indeed start to see a l 24 dec: ase in the ductility, and that ductility goes down as a ( 25 dose increases, but it seems that if you go to very high doses HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

270 1 there may be a plateauat which the ductility levels out, and gs 2 this could be about 10 or 20 percent,'after which increasing b 3' dosages'doesn't do much, so you may still be able to live with 4 that 20 percent elongation. 5 If you go to a very fast dose rate, ten.to the 6 fifth, ten to the 6th, the rads--you have to get way beyond 7 about ten to the 8th radiations until ductility starts to 8 decrease. Now these irradiations were carried out in the 9 presence of air, and gamma and oxygen are together very 10 damaging to high density polyethylene, and 've found out that 11 if you can exclude a lot of oxygen, a lot of the irradiation 12 damage phenomena disappear, and other people have shown this. 13 For example, Dr. Silling showed some of our U bend 14 tests are, the strip of plastic and bend it around and held 15 the two ends together with nuts and bolts, and sometimes when 16 you bend the plastic, you can form cracks, thin oxidized hairs 17 that form during molding, high temperature molding. Now if 18 these are embedded in resins, as in some of our previous . 19 tests, and you irradiate the whole system, then the oxygen is 20 very rapidly depleted by the resins because they have a 21 tremendous surface area compacted with plastic. We find in 1 22 that condition, the cracks do not grow. New cracks are not i 23 initiated. So essentially, the gamma radiation effects are j 24 not detriment at all. It really depends on the defining the () 25 environment that your resins are sitting in. If you can just I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

271 1 exclude a lot of oxygen, some of these irradiation damage ('T 2 problems will disappear, so I think it is up to the venders to' V 3 try and figure out what' sort of a service environment they 4 have and try and determine what the appropriate mechanical 5 properties cre. 6 CHAIRMAN.HOELLER: Any other comments? 7 DR. ORTH: One last semi-facetious remark--anything 8 that is going to give it ten to the 8th rads for any 9 reasonable amount of time, it is a hard time to be classified , 10 as being low-level waste that's at the surface of the  ; f 11 container. 12 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Paul? 13 DR. SHEWMON: There has been several references to O 14 the criteria which, to which these things are designed. 15 Do I have them in your handout) Or I don't find 16 them. 17 DR. TOKAR: They are in the branch technical--excuse 18 me. 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Could you provide that? They 20 DR. TOKAR: They are in the Brookhaven report which t 21 I felt we had provided to you at an earlier time. We gave you 22 copies of the draft Brookhaven report that came out last year. 23 CHAIRMAN M3ELLER: You probably did. 24 DR. SHEWMON: I would like to see the criteria that f) s/ 25 you currently would like. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

272 1 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Any other questions Jr comments? f~ 2 DR. CARTER: I am still interested in the histories

         .i                                                                                                          i 3       of these things, how many actual exposure do they get?                       It is 4       fine to talk about ten to the 8th, but the question is what do 5       they actually get in a 300-year period?                Is there any 6       infornation available?

7 DR. TOKAR: I don't have any information at hand, 8 but we can try to get it to you. 9 DR. KERR: Is the ten to the 8th going to be treated 10 as a criterion in the future, te:: to the 8th rad? 11 DR. TOKAR: That's the criterion we have at the ' i 12 present time, and I would expect that's the one we keep until f 13 we decide it needs changing. I 14 DR. KERR: What does the ten to the 8th mean? i 15 Apparently it means that something should or should not happen  ; 16 given that the container is exposed to it. What must be the 17 condition of the container after it.has been exposed to ten to 18 the 8th rad? Is that defined in the criteria? 19 DR. TOKAR: No. 20 DR. KEPI: So for example, if it became a pile of l 21 dust, that v'suld be okay? l i 22 DR. TOKAR: It is implicit in the overall' 23 requirement for these containers and these solidification 24 media to have structural stability to 300 years. If the ( 25 container is capable of withstanding whatever loads are placed l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 , _ - _ .l

273 1 upon it, and it would not go through these changes that , ("} U 2 Professor Silling just discussed, then it would-- 3 DR. KERR: Is.3 percent strain, does that retain 4 structural stability or what is the strain limit to be?. 5 DR. TOKAR: We don't have a strain limit per.se. , 6 DR. KERR: What does one then mean by structural 7 stability? 8 DR. TOKAR: We are attempting to define it in terms 9 of no buckling, no entering of tertiary creep, no exceed 10 allowable membrane stresses. That is what I started off my 11 presentation about an hour or so ago--still the criteria that 12 we are currently using.  ; 13 DR. KERR: In effect then zero change in structure  ! ("T i v 14 and size? 15 DR. TOKAR: No, not zero. You could have-- 16 DR. KERR: I thought you were saying no. To me, no 17 means zero. 18 DR. TOKAR: No buckling; buckling, it was defined by 19 Professor Silling as a sudden deformation that occurs when you 20 achieve a certain load and you get collapse in effect of the 21 structure. That is different from having a creep deformation 22 which could give you some greater than zero amount of 23 deformation. 24 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Our reporter is out of paper. 25 Dr. Steindler has several more questions. I would say let's HERITAGE REPORTING. CORPORATION -- (202)626-4888

274 1- take a break for fifteen minutes. We will give Dr. Steindler {} 2 five minutes, and then we will go on to the DOE presentation. 3 (A brief recess was taken.) 4 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: The meeting will resume. We have 5 several questions which Dr. Steindler is going to ask. For 6 the members in audience here, we also had another presentation 7 on an update on the status of cement waste form solidification 8 issues, and that we will postpone until a subsequent meeting 9 of the Committee. 10 We have the DOE's people here ready for their 11 presentation, and out of courtesy to them, we are postponing 12 that item and will move ahead. But first-- 13 DR. TOKAR: Dade, can I ask a question? There are a O 14 number of people in the audience from vender-corporations, et 15 cetera, who I know are interested in the current status of our 16 topical report reviews. Can I take about twoor three minutes 17 and show one vugraph that summarizes what would be--I will do 18 that after Dr. Steindler's questions . 19 DR. STEINDLER: I don't have very many. What 20 fraction of the existing high-level waste is involved in the 21 high density polyethylene HICS? 22 MR. GREEVES: Low-level waste?

                                                                                               \

23 DR. STEINDLER: I'm sorry--low-level waste. 24 DR. TOKAR: In terms of low-level waste, the total l 25 fraction of B and C waste first of all, is about 4 to 5 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 ,

275 1 percent and approximately half of that is placed in high r3 2 integrity containers. The rest is-solidified. U ~ 3 MR. GREEVES: You have it distributed over three 4 different burial grounds.and one of note is South Carolina. 5 DR. STEINDLER: Three different burial grounds. 6 MR. GREEVES: Currently there are three different 7 burial grounds. 8 DR. PARRY: Polyethylene is not accepted at Hanford, 9 is it? 10 MR. GREEVES: Right. Well, there is an exception, 11 but it, the polyethylene HICS are basically used at the 12 Barnwell site historically. They have not been acceptable at 13 the other two sites. I think there are seven whic are O 14 enclosed in some kind of a concrete silo out at Hanford. 15 DR. STEINDLER: The only application has been in B ' 16 and C waste, or is that your only concern? 17 DR. TOKAR: That is our only concern. There are 18 other applications. Certain class A waste is placed in these , 19 containers as well because the state has a requirement for i 20 class A waste that contains greater than one micro curie per 21 gram activit; to be, to be stabilized. l 22 DR. STEINDLER: Except for the irradiation issue, 23 the other concerns nonetheless are valid for class A waste as 24 well as for B and C? Is that correct? (") ss 25 DR. TOKAR: I am not certain I understand your HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

276 1 question. Could you say that again? 2 DR. STEINDLER: Well, why differentiate between 3 class A and class B and C'except for the issue of the possible 4 issue of radiation which I don't want to open up again? 5 DR. TOKAR: We differentiate in our regulation on. 6 the basis of structural stability requirements. 7 DR. STEINDLER: Requirements rather than actual 8 performance? 9 DR. TOKAR: Well, performance is related to the 10 requirements. We require structural stability for class B and 11 C waste because that is tied into the overall performance 12 assessment of the site. 13 DR. STEINDLER: I understand that. O 14 CHAIRMAN MOELLER; Okay. Well then Mike, why don't 15 you take a few minutes and summarize the status on this 16 matter? 17 DR. TOKAR: Actually what I want to summarize here 18 is this status overall, if we can get the lights, wherever 19 they are, of our topical report review situation. 20 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say, but 21 this particular table has got some beauty in my eye for a 22 number of reasons, one of which is--Dolly Parton has appeal, 23 too, for that matter. But anyway, this has, shows in one 24 glance, one table, what the overall status is of our topical 25 report reviews on high integrity containers, and the status of HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888.

j 277 -1 1 l 1 high integrity container topical reports and solidification  ! l l 2 -media. As you can see, as as I mentioned earlier, we have had 3 a total of 28 topical reports submitted that deal with either- l 4 containers or solidification media. We include seven. Three 5 reviews have been disconnected. Six have been' withdrawn l I 6 . voluntarily by the vender as was the case, for example, for l 7 one polyethylene HIC that I mentioned earlier. 'And we 8 currently have a dozen under review. 9 We have approved in terms of HICS three topical i 10 reports, two of which deal with the ferralium 50 high l 11 integrity containers.that are marketed by New Path and c 3 at j 12 Chichubu, but type HICS that are the' fiber reinforced polymer 13 impregnated ones. i O' 14 And we have approved uith some conditions the vinyl l 15 estel styrene, the GE Aztec material. Gypsum, which has a 16 very limited approval, and bitumen in the days of the oxidized 17 bitumen that is marketed by Waste Chem Corporation. 18 As you can see from the footnotes, if you have a i 19 copy of the handout, you will not be able to see it on the 20 bottom of the slide, several of these actions have been 21 completed this calendar year. You have reached decisions in 22 the past six months on nine topical reports. This is a 23 greater number than has been reached or decisions reached.on, 24 in the prior four years that the topical report review process () 25 has been in place, so the pace of this has increased, although HERITAGE REPORTING -CORPORATIOli -- (202)628-4888

278

                                  ~

1 as I mentioned earlier, we had some concerns about resources, , r3 2' so I can't really predict what the tempo will be in-the NJ. i 3 future. 4 As you can see'from the bottom of the table ~ the-5 dozen that are still under review, most of those involve 6 cement. We have discontinued the review of one cement topical 7 just in the.past week which was the stock topical ~, principally - 8 because that particular vender was unresponsive in terms of . 9 our request for further information. 10 If you look at the total list that we have now, five  ; 11 are dealing with cement. We expect to continue.to see more i 12 cement topicals in the near future. Three of these are  ! l 13 polyethylene, which we anticipate we will reach some final O 14 decision on by the end of the summer, and the remaining four 15 deal with high integrity containers of one sort or another 16 which we hope to reach some final decision.on either late this 17 year or early next year, so basically that's the summary ' 18 situation that I wanted to tell you about which I think is 19 important to many of the people in the audience. The table is 20 dated June 30, even though this is the 28th of June, for the 21 simple reason that we wanted to provide a mid-year summary 22 that folks can refer tc in the future if they wish, so that's-23 it in a nutshell. Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: And we apologize to the members () 25 of the audience that are here for that, were here for that HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

279 1 presentation. (} 2 'If the stock is discontinued, does that affect its 3 use in the plants? 4 DR. TOKAR: Potentially yes, if the states implement 5 this findir7 in terms of their non-accepting this material at 6 their particular disposal site. As you mentioned earlier, the L 7 state has the ultimate authority on whether they will or will 8 not cede, and they have, they have that, that right, but I. . 9 presume that in time, they will implement that finding. They 10 have done so in the past I understand. , 11 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Well, let me close it out by 12 thanking the NRC staff for bearing with us this morning and 13 for your presentations. , O 14 We will move on now to the initial prasentation by 15 the DOE sta.5f on the consultation draft site characterization 16 plan, and serving as coordinator for th> DOE presentations 17 will be Ed Regnier.  ! 18 MR. REGNIER: Thank you, and good morning. I am 19 Edward Regnier, the acting branch chief for the Licensing 20 Branch in the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management 21 at the Department of Energy. 22 We certainly do appreciate the opportunity to talk l 23 to you this morning concerning the DOE's site characterization 24 plan and particularly the consideration of alternative (}v 25 conceptual models for repository site in the site HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

 = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _            - - _ _ - - _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _

280 1 characterization plan. m 2 I want to reiterate what we did mention yesterday in (d 3 our presentation to you at the first meeting of the Advisory 4 Committee on Nuclear Waste, that is to state that the 5 Department of Energy is certainly very pleased to see the 6 formation of an advisory Committee directed toward the nuclear 7 waste problems. We believe that this certainly indicates the 8 emphasis of the Commission on this area, and we believe that's 9 an extremely appropriate emphasis. 10 In our presentations today, people will be talking 11 to you from several parts of our organization. To let you 12 know who they are and where they fit into the organization so 13 you will understand I think where they tit, I would like to 14 quickly review our organization with you. 15 (Slide) 16 MR. REGNIER: The headquarters organization is 17 called Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, 18 handles overall planning and direction of the nuclear waste 19 disposal program. The warite management project office, which 20 is in, within the Nevada operations office, takes care of 21 items of implementation of the program. It is under the 22 direction of the project manager, Carl Gertz, who will in a 23 few moments describe in more detail the project organization. 24 And the headquarters organization is as shown.

                   ) 25              (Slide)

HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

281 1 MR. REGNIER: There are five offices. -The Office of 2 Quality Assurance reports directly to the director. It is an

}

3 office which has.been recently formed separately, reported to 4 the director, to emphasize the importance which we do place on 5 this. There is a support contractor which particularly 6 supports the QA effc_ts. Again, we are now particularly 7 putting heavy emphasis on the quality assurance program. 8 There are then four other offices within the Office 9 of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. There is the Office 10 of Program Administration and Re source Management, which 11 handles functions such as the program management system, takes 12 care of the project decision schedule, the nuclear waste fund, 13 the development of the licensing support system, other O 14 administrative support type of functions. , l 15 There is the Office of Facilities Siting and 16 Development, and that office functions, takes care of the site j 17 characterization program and directs the geoscience activities 18 of the project. It is responsible for design, development, 19 construction, operation, decommissioning, of the repository j 20 and of an MRS facility. 21 The Office of Systems Integration and Regulation 22 handles integration of the overall waste management system, 23 takes care of developing a transportation program, has a 24 development program for rod consolidation, handles 25 Environmental Impact Statement preparation, and also takes HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

282 1 care of licensing related issues'or efforts such as developing 2 a licensing plann, preparing a license application, and [} 3 performing the safety and performance assessment analyses. 4 The fifth office is the External Relations and 5 Policy Office. They develop overall policy and strategy for 6 the program, and handle the external interactions with the 7 various established commissions, boards, the negotiator, which 8 was established by the amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy 9 Act. They would interface with volunteer states, that type of 10 activities. 11 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Ed, you are located in the third 12 one over? 13 MR. REGNIER: Yes, at Mr. Brocoun, who will be 14 talking to you today; myself, I am, this is the Licensing and 15 Compliance Division, in the Office of systems Integration and 16 Regulations, and Steve Brocoun is in the Siting Facilities 17 Technology Division and here--and Don Alexander will be 18 talking to you. He is also in the Licensing and Compliance 19 Division there. 20 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 21 DR. KERR: Vacant there refers only to the director 22 and not ta the box? 23 MR. REGNIER: That is correct. That is correct. 24 The Keith Klein is the acting division director here, and 25 Ralph Stein, who is the office director, is the acting HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

283 l l 1 division director there, and those are staff. i I 2 DR. KERR: Should I read any, significance into the 3 number of people who are acting? 4 MR. REGNIER: Not really. It is an administrative-5 process that there was a reorganization back in April, and 6 before the act).ng title can come off, there is a lot of--I . 7 don't understand it myself, but a lot of personnel things that 8 need to be taken care of to completely approve the position. 9 Generally most of the people, I believe maybe_all of 10 the people there are incumbents in the position. Carl Gertz, 11 who is the project manager for the waste management project 12 office in Nevada, will now discuss with you his organization. 13 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 14 MR. GERTZ: First of all,- I am Carl Gertz. I am 15 DOE's project manager in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have been there 16 almost a year, and I thoroughly enjoy being involved on what I 17 consider one of the very important projects for the nation and 18 the power industry, and it is a challenge and an opportunity 19 for me. 20 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Where did you come from? 21 MR. GERTZ: The Department of Energy in Idaho Falls 22 where I had worked about ten years in various aspects of high, 23 low-level waste and transportation. l 24 l CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you, a 25 MR. GERTZ: Let me tell you about what we are doing  ;

                                                            .            l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888              j

284 1 in Nevada and who is doing what. I have a project office, j 2 about 50 individuals at this point in time, and I will go into 3 that a little bit later. These are what we call'the project 4 participants, the contractors working en the program for us. 5 There is about 1400 on board right now if you add up all.the 6 people in these boxes, but the majority of the scientific work 7 is being done by three national labs and the U.S. Geological - 8 Survey, an independent agency of the United States Government. 9 The survey concentrates on geologic and hydrologic 10 activities. Sandia National Labs concentrates on performance 11 assessment, some repository design. Lawrence Livermore Lab 12 concentrates on a, our waste package environment. Los Alamos 13 National Lab concentrates on geochemistries and volcanism. O 14 Today you will be hearing from Scott Cynic, later'on out of 15 Sandia, some of the performance assessment aspects of our 16 models. You will be hearing from Dwight Hoxie you from the 17 survey about our hydrologic model. In addition, you will be 18 hearing from some people in my office. 19 Let me tell you about the other people in the chart 20 so you know what they are doing. These are test site 21 contractors who will be designing the exploratory shaft. 22 Holmes and Narver for aboveground, Fenix for the below ground 23 facilities; Reco, our construction contractor at the test 24 site, does all the construction, including the drilling, et 25 cetera, for whatever the labs need. They support the labs. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

285 1 Science International plays a big, Science Application 2 International plays a big role in our program. They are the, 3 integrate the technical wor): that is going on, they do assume 4 technical work themselves, but very, very little. It is one 5 that wouldn't be applicable to these people. 6 And in addition, they do the line responsibility for 7 quality assurance. The line responsibility for oversight 8 rests with some of the staff at Science Applications. We also 9 nave Mactec involved in the project as a personal group of 10 consultants to myself and my staff to assure we are 11 incorporated in the latest thinking in regulatory 12 applications. 13 Let me then go on to my individual office. O 14 DR. KERR: Excuse me. What is meant by the 15 statement that you are applying the latest thinking in 16 regulatory application? 17 MR. GERTZ: Mactec has been in the power plant 18 industry, have some top-notch people who have be=n trying to 19 get things licensed, and they provide thoughts to us as to 20 what worked in the power plant industry and what didn't work, 21 and what is working today as opposed to ten years ago or 22 something like that. 23 This is my individual federal organization. I have 24 a deputy and some supporting people in my office, and 25 reporting directly to my office, my quality assurance group. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

286 1 It is this group along'with SAIC support that overseas all the 1 2 participants' activities. They all have their own quality 3 assurance groups, but this is the top level that overseas it. 4 In addition, I have three branches--Regulatory and 5 Site Evaluation, Technical Development Engineering and Systems 6 Project. You will be hearing today from some of my people, t 7 and I will make a brief introduction later on in the - 8 presentation, but you will be hearing from Max Blanchard, the 9 chief of this branch, Jerry Szymanski, one of our physical 10 scientists--before Jerry talks, I will be introducing him to t 11 let you know how that process on his record is going. 12 We have some matrix support from the field office. 13 I report directly to the field office manager. Nick Aqualine, 14 maximum support from Mr. Aqualine as far as what I need to get 1 15 my job done in Nevada, and that's all I have and I will sure 16 respond to any questions if you have any. 17 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Any questions for Mr. Gertz? 18 DR. KERR: What is a matrix support staff? 19 MR. GERTZ: Matrix support would be like an 20 attorney. I don't have enough work to keep an attorney busy l 21 all the time, so he does other things at the test site, and 22 then work on my job maybe 70 percent of the time. 23 DR. KERR: Thank you. 24 MR. REGNIER: I want to briefly summarize the 25 objectives and presentations that you will be hearing today. 4 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

287 1 We first have, we will have an overview summary /- 2 presented of the DOE's site charac terization plan, co;ne (>} 3 background on that, and a discussi.on of the what we call the 4 SCP completion process which is t aking the draf t SCP which we 5 have issued for consultation purposes, taking the comments, 6 and feedback we have gotten on that and developing the, what i 7 will be our final SCP. < 8 We will then after having the discussion of the SCP, i 9 the latter portion of the agenda will be a discussion of how P 10 consideration is being given to alternative conceptual models 11 of the site in the SCP, with emphasis on integration of the 12 hydrologic considerations with other science, other earth 13 science impacts, and that will include a discussion of the  ; C:) 14 model developed by Jerry Szymanski of the Department of 15 Energy. 16 I would note that the requirements for the content 17 of an SCP are described in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and in , 18 Part 60, and further detailed in NRC's Reg Guide 4.17. These i 19 requirements are only for a general plan to be in the SCP. I 20 believe that we have gone somewhat beyond those requirements 21 and in fact our SCP is an extensive, quite detailed document, l 22 which I, we do have a copy of it with us here today. It fills l 23 up an extremely large box. 24 Also as I mentioned earlier, that we have issued you 25 will see the abbreviations somewhere--CD/SCP consultative HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

288 1 draft. We were not required by the law or by the regulations 2 to issue a consultative draft, but we chose to do that to 3 enable us to better interact with the state, with NRC, and 4 produce a better final document. 5 We were extremely pleased with the review which the 6 NRC staff provided. I think in a short period of time, they 7 did an onceptionally thorough and exceptionally good job of S reviewing the SCP provided us with a large number of I think 9 very constructive, very helpful comments. i 10 In particular, as you know, their comments which 11 they called point papers, did contain five specific , 12 objections, and we certainly have been studying these  ! i 13 objections extensively along with the other comments. We met

 }                                                                     i 14  with NRC staff in March, in a I believe it was a four-day       ;

15 meeting, to clarify our understanding of those comments, and 16 we believe that we do thoroughly understand NRC's concerns. j 17 We are firmly committed to resolve those objections  ; i 18 and their comments. 19 The SCP will contain a response to all of the  ! 20 objections. As I say, we are in the process of determining j 21 the best way to address those. We have not closed with the , 22 1000 staf f members on these. We believe it is really most  ! l 23 appropriate to talk with the NRC staff first and to get 24 feedback from them to determine basically the adequacy of our (- 25 approach before we claim that we have arrived at a [ i v HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

289 l l 1 satisfactory or final answer to those questions, so today we l 2 will describe the process we are going through to resolve 3 those. We don't have the answers yet. 4 Particularly.we will be interacting.with the NRC 5 staff on those questions in some upcoming meetings that are 6 scheduled. We will be discussing the quality assurance 7 concerns at a meeting on July 7. We will be discussing the 8 concerns related to the exploratory shaft on July 18. And we 9 have yet to schedule but we are committed to schedule a 10 meeting in early August to discuss the, basically to discuss 11 the point papers and at that time discuss how we plan to 12 address all of the objections and all of the concerns raised 13 in the point papers. ( 14 In particular at this time, we have discussed the 15 alternative conceptual model. The number one objection, what 16 the staff perceived as a failure to adequately consider all 17 the possible conceptual models of the site in the SCP in a l l 18 four-day meeting in Los Vegas starting on April 11; again, we 19 are firmly committed to a comprehensive site characterization 20 site investigation program that will enable us to assess all 21 applicable conceptual models and that, that will be a topic 22 that we will discuss with you at some length today, 23 The second objection was, concerned the penetration 24 of the exploratory shaft facilities, shaft and a drift into 25 the Calico Hills unit which is the geological unit between the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

290 , 1 repository horizon ano the water table. Currently we have {} 2 deferred any plans to penetrate the Calico Hills unit with a c 3 shaft or a drift and will not, and have committed that we will ' 4 not renew those plans unless a study which we are conducting 5 trying to weigh the benefits of that activity versus the 6 potential risks indicates that there is a favorable balance in 7 the benefit side from doing that. 8 The third objection concerned the possible j 9 interferences in the exploratory, with the exploratury ch:2ts , 10 either between tests or between the construction of the shafts  ! 11 and tests, and the fourth concern, the location of the { i t 12 exploratory shafts, their surface location being subject to 13 possible flooding and erosion, those are items which we will  ? ( 14 not be covering in detail today.  ! 15 The fifth objection was while not inherently related 16 solely to the site characterization efforts, it is more of a  ! 17 more universal question, wac the one on the quality assurance 18 where the flRC observed that our quality assurance program 19 plans are not complete. Many are under revision, and have i 20 not, either have unanswered questions or have not been 21 reviewed by URC.  ;

22 We certainly are aware of that, and we are working t a

23 hard to, to complete those plans, and have them reviewed. We 24 have made a positive commitment that we will not start new ' O 25 site characterization work until we do have a quality I t 4 HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

  .   .  .   - - . _ ~        _ -      - .. .-_ - - -. - ,               - _ ,     . - - . . - .    , - . . , , - - - -

291 1 assurance plan in place. 2 DR. KERR: Does the Department of Energy have QA [ 3 programs in any of its other activities? 4 MR. REGNIER: Not--I don't believe, not nuclear, if 5 you will, not Appendix B type of. programs, although I would 6 have to, I would have to ask someone else if they could tell  ! 7 me precisely what type. I am sure we do have a quality [ 8 program. , 9 MR. GERTZ: The department on the defense side has l I 10 some very extensive quality assurance requirements. They are i 11 not regulatory here, but they are the 18 criteria, or the NQA i 12 1 are their basis for the department's other program. I have l 13 been away frem them got a while, but I know they have~them and

   ]     14         in depth, but the department's operating and licensing                                                                                            t i

15 environment, this is the first opportunity. l 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Could you identify yours? 17 MR. GERTZ: I am Carl Gertz. 18 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: I'm sorry. I didn't turn and l 19 didn't recognize the voice. 20 MR. REGNIER: I did want to make-reference-- 21 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: A comment--you have listed the 22 objections and yet in the most recent, and I think I am 23 stating this correctly, the most recent memo or letter from 24 Bob Brocoun to the DOE, the most recent iter included a number 25 of comments of this, of the forerunner to this Committee, and l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 j

i > 292 , t 1 I wondered how those are being addressed. t {} 2 As I recall, they included such things as items in 3 the site characterization plan which did not comply with 4 regulations either of EPA or NRC, and our overall lack of what 5 appeared te be conservatism in your approach and so forth. 6 Were those objections or whatever they are called 7 being addressed? 8 MR. REGNIER: They are being addressed, and we will [ 9 go, as I say, through the process of how we are addressing { 10 those very--we have a very thorough documented process that we > 11 are going through to be sure that all of those points are 12 covered because we are certainly aware that many of the, of g 13 the comments, although they were not listed as objections, are O 14 exceedingly important. 15 For example, the substantially complete containment 16 problem, we do have extensive efforts underway to review our 17 interpretation and the goals that were in there, and we will i 18 be, you know, trying to discuss that with the staff when we 19 are able to. We think we have the improved version of that, i 20 so we certainly are proceeding say to cover all of the 21 questions and particularly-- 22 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: The concerns. 23 MR. REGNIER: Particularly the concerns that have 24 been raised. 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

h 293

        'l             MR. REGNIER:    The next presentation will be by Dr.

2 Don Alexander, who is the chief of the Regulatory Compliance 3 Branch. He will give you an overview-of the site _, 4 characterization plan. 5 DR. ALEXANDER: I want to thank you for the

6. invitation to come and talk to you-today about the site j 7 characterization plan.  ;

8 Prior to the organization, I was chief of the 9 Technology Branch which had the responsibility.for l 10 overseeing the development of the three SCPs at that time. 11 I will be talking to you a little bit today about the l 12 organization and structure of.the SCP and background for the 13 rest of the presentations. Steve Brocoun, who will follow ' l 14 me, will touch upon the objections, and the point papers and ( 15 tell you a little bit about how they are being handled in 16 the completion of the SCP itself, f 17 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Out of curiosity, what is your  ! 18 educational background? . 19 DR. ALEXANDER: I have a Ph.D. In geochemistry i 20 from the University of Michigan. I served here at the, with l

21 NMS in Licensing and also in Research, so I know many of the 22 Committee members.

23 CllAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. . 24 DR. ALEXANDER: The SCP presents existing l 25 information that is,. identifies issues to be resolved during i 4 Heritage Reporting Corporation  : [} (202) 628-4888 i i f

294 1 siting and licensing. I passed out a document that documents 2 the issues hierarchy, OGRB 10 document, the yellow covered 3- document on the table for your reference. It also identifies 4 the information that would be needed to resolve thoue issues, 5 and the technical issues that-are'in a level below them in the 6 hierarchy, and then it presents in Chapter 8 plans for 7 acquiring and analyzing that information. 8 (Slide) 9 DR. ALEXANDER: The. objectives of the SCP are to 10 describe the site to conceptual repository design and the 11 waste package design, to identify uncertainties and limitation 12 in the existing information, and then to describe the detailed 13 programs for additional work needed to resolve those issues, 14 and of course, to reduce the uncertainties. 15 (Slide) 16 DR. ALEXANDER: The SCP identifies the information 17 required for the license application. Fundamentally we look 18 at regulatory criteria, translate those into issues and issues 19 hierareny, including formulation of issues and information 20 needs, and then transform those into a set of site 21 char *cterization activities. 22 As those activities produce information from our 23 site characterization program, the information is synthesized 24 and used for issue closeout with the NRC. () 25 (Slide) HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

295 1 DR.-ALEXANDER.: -The SCP is' organized fundamentally {} 2 into two parts. Judith? 3 DR. MOODY: Just a- quick--will ;'ou tell me what you 4 mean by information synthesis?- 5 DR. ALEXANDER: Yes. _ Basically what wefwill be-6 doing is we will be developing a number of what we are 7 referring to internally as position papers. Position papers 8 will take information from site characterization, often from ] 9 many disciplines. The disciplines will'be shown on the next [ i 10 graphic, and those, that information will be synthesized into 11 a cohesive picture of an understanding of the scenario I will 12 be talking, going into later this afternoon, and then our 13 findings on that particular scenario that may have to do with O 14 safety would be reported, so it is that kind of a synthesis 15 performance assessment. 16 (Slide)  ; t 17 DR. ALEXANDER: Okay. The SCP is divided into two

,    18   major parts. The first part we have referred to as Part A.      ;

19 It is comprised of seven chapters. The seven chapters provide j 20 you with the information that is currently available about the - J 21 site. b 22 Second part of the document focuses in on the 4 23 program for characterizing the Yucca Mountain site. The key i 24 parts of the document include the issues themselves that need 25 to be resolved, a long section on the planned tests to be HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

296 1 conducted at the site,'and section on site' preparation, and 2 importantly right now a section that we are. working on, 3 schedules, i 4 (Slide) d DR. ALEXANDER: This again-just lists the' main 6 chapters of Part A. Go to the next slide. 7 (Slide) [ 8 DR. ALEXANDER: This lists the major sections of [ 9 Part B. What I will be doing is focusing on 8.2 which deals 10 with the issues and information needs, and 8.3, which 11 discusses the planned tests, studies and analyses. 12 (Slidei  ! 13 DR. ALEXANDER: The SCP Section 8.2 presents the ' 14 Yucca Mountain issues hierarchy which is an extension of the 15 OGRB 10 document that you have on the table. It presents a I i 16 correlation of site-specific issues hier archy with other issue 17 lists. The NRC and others have prepared issue-lists over the f r 18 years and we have tried to make sure that the issues that we ' l, 19 have adopted embody all of those other issues, and then it ' 20 summarizes the site specific strategies which will be used for 21 resolution of each of the performance and design issues based l 22 on our current thinking. I 23 Section 8.3 presents the plans for collecting and i 24 analyzing information, and then it provides a level of detail I 25 in that iection which is consistent with an agreement that we l l 1 i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATIO!! -- (202)628-4888  ;

V 297 1 struck with the NRC staff back in 1986. I will talk to you a (~ 3 2 little bit about that level of detail. L: 3 Mike, could you push it up a little higher? 4 (Slide) 5 DR. ALEXANDER: The issues hierarchy and the 6 development of the programs within the SCP ara divided, 7 subdivided into a number of layers. The major element is 8 program. Second element is an investigation. Below that is a 9 study. Below that is a test and below that is a procedure. 10 In the agreement, we agreed that the SCP would cover 11 programs and investigations and would provide a summary, a 12 short summary of the studies and a listing of the tests that 13 would be conducted. The extension, though, of the SCP it was ( ') 14 agreed would be in study plans which would give you details of 15 the studies and give you listing of the tests and activities 16 and a listing of the procedures. Those study plans will 17 fellow over the next several years. Two of them are at the 18 Cormission for review, and they will be amended as appropriate 19 through time. 20 (Slide) 21 DR. ALEXANDER: There are four key issues in the 22 issues hierarchy. They are listed here. Post-closure waste 23 isolation, pre-closure radiation, safety environmental 24 protection, socio-economics and transportation, feasibility of f i x- 25 construction operation, closure and decommissioning. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

298 1 The third or the_ key _ issue 3 is_not included in the L 2 SCP but will be addressed in other program documents such as { 3' the EIS, and this gives you an indication,-this particular i 4 graphie gives you an indication of the number of issues below 5 each of the key issues. .Next slide-- .[ 6 (Slide) J  ! 7 DR. ALEXANDER: As you could tell, the key issues. e 8 are broad level regulatory requirements. The issues are the , 9 list of regulatory questions that must be answered in order to 10 resolve the key issues. They are derived from specific [ I 11 requirements of Part 60, 191 and 960, and then the information  ! 12 needs, as I said before, are technical.information concerns . t 13 that have been raised by technical staff. ( 14 (Slide) 15 DR. ALEXANDER: There are two categories <>f issues. 16 One is performance issues. The second is design issues. The 17 performance issues are questions that address whether the mine  ; I 18 disposal complies with regulatory requirements. Design issues l 19 address whether the design of the repository seals and waste l 20 package support compliance with regulatory requirements. 21 (Slide) I , 22 DR. ALEXANDER: The issues hierarchy then l 23 fundamentally translates regulatory criteria into ' 24 characterization programs by aggregating like criteria, so for 25 example, 10 CFR 60.122, which is a listing of the siting  ; i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 l

299  ! 1 criteria, as you vill remember, is transposed into an issue 1 1.8, and then that issue is addressed by a number of

0' 3 2

characterization programs found in Sections 8, 3, 1X of the i 4' document. 7 5 (Slide)  !

                                                                                                                                                        ~

6 DR. ALEXANDER: Once the issues were set up, we had 7 to derive an issue resolution strategy,-and what I am. going to i i 8 talk about for the next few minutes will be-the issue-9 resolution strategies which are found in 8.2 of the SCP, issue i 10 resolution strategies methodology used to achieve closure on l 11 each of the issues identified in the issues hierarchy by j. 12 defining the element and process important to the performance  ! 13 of the site and engineered barrier system, identifying the j O- 14 information required to resolve the issues, or collecting l t i

15 data, the collection and analyses to the program mission, and 16 establishing an approach for documenting findings and closing 17 issues.  !

i 18 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Excuse me. On the previous slide 19 where you address 40 CFR 190, 191 issue, to whom--do you send j 1 20 a message to EPA? To whom do you address that? j 1 21 DR. ALEXANDER: Forty CFR 119 has last been i j i l 22 incorporated in 10 CFR 60 as major performance objective. 1  ! 23 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: You go yo the NRC for that?  ! l  ! 24 ' DR. ALEXANDER: That is correct. ( 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 l

i300 . L 1 (Slide) 2 DR. ALEX.4NDER: ,Well, the issue resolution. strategy 3 is comprised of.four major parts--issue identification, which 4 I talked about briefly; performance allocation, which is a' , 5 process'that I will tell you a little bit more about in r 6 detail; data collection:and analyses, and then issue [ 7 resolution. I am going to be focusing on the issue'  ; 8 identification part and the performance allocation part which- l 't 9 is, are covered in the SCP. The rest.will be outside or i 10 follow the SCP. i 11 (Slide) , 12 DR. ALEXANDER: Issue identification is comprised

,             13            of, in our approach, is comprised of three major items--the i        /~4 t
         \/   14            development of a system description, which is developed 15             independently of the regulatory requirements, and review of 16             the regulatory requirements which are then transinted into                                                                                                                j 17            issues.                                                                           Next slide--                                                                             !

18 DR. KERR: I'm sorry. I missed--you said something I 19 about independence. What is--something was developed 20 independently of regulatory requirements. What is it that was  ; 21 developed? 22 DR. ALEXANDER: The development of a system 23 description, namely, the development of a description of the i i 24 Yucca Mountain site under consideration is done in parallel.  ! O 25 with the identification and review of the regulatory HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION ---(202)628-4888

301 1- rcquirements, but they are bo*.h important considerations as we 2 go down through this process. 3 DR. KERR: When you talk about the system 4 description, what is the system?

      .5-           DR. ALEXANDER:   When I talk about the system, I am 6  talking about the mine geologic disposal system which is 7  comprised of both engineered barriers.and:the site itself, so 8  it is the complete system.

e 9 DR. KERR: Thank you. 10 DR. ALEXANDEP. : Next slide, please. 11 (Slide) 12 DR. ALEXANDER: The system description involves the 13 development of conceptual site models. Our approach is to i t 14 identify legitimate alternative conceptual models, develop 15 conceptual designs, and alternative designs as well, define l 16 system elements for each of the conceptual models, and for  : 17 example, in this cartoon, I illustrate some of the key site 18 elements as being in the case o! the Yucca Mountain site, the , 19 unsaturated zone. That is the zone that is above the water 4 1 l 20 table, sometimes referred to as the Vatos zone-. and then the i 21 saturated zone which is below the repository horizon. And j 22 then there are key elements of the engineered barrier that are  ; i 23 listed here, the air gap, the container, and the waste form. l 24 (Slide)  ; () 25 DR. ALEXANDER: What I am trying to do is take you HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

302 1 through the process so you_will have an understanding'of how (} 2 these documents were put together.

       '3            Those three boxes that I yast talked about feed the 4 licensing strategy, and the performance ~ allocation process s

5 involves setting a licensing strategy for the elements of the 6 system, defining performance measures, for the performance 7 measures, defining it more completely or succinctly, in terms 8 of parameters, and then from that we derive our testing 9 program. This is a process that was the subject of two 10 meetings with the NRC in '85. 11 (Slide) 12 DR. ALEXANDER: We set the licensing strategy by 13 defining the critical system elements, by identifying the O 14 important processes of that system, defining the expected and 15 disruptive scenarios, define sensitivity of the system 16 elements, to release, as they affect release, and identifying, 17 evaluating licensing strategies. Once we have gone through 18 that step, then we define performance measures. Performance 19 measure as a basis or a standard, as a ruler is for a measure 20 of length, used as measure of length used to assess the 21 performance of a system element. 22 We then set tentative goals for that performance , 23 measure. A tentative goal is a value or a limit toward which 24 the effort is directed. They are predominantly conservatively 25 set with respect to the regulatory limits, and the important HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

303 t 1- point that we emphasize every time we talk about this subject  ; {} 2 is that they are there to guide our testing program. They are 3 not-criteria in the sense that the criteria would apply from 4 Part 60. They are just simply set as a guide for testing. 5 And then we, with each of the goals in order to make then l meaningful, we indicate the confidence that we have in meeting ' 6 7 that goal. That confidence is defined as a judgment of how 8 well the current value will be confirmed by future 9 measurements. i 10 DR. KERR: In talking about performance measures or  ; i 11 trying to identify them, is it the view of the DOE that if all  ! 12 of the licensing requirements are mot, that the repository 13 will be satisfactory? O 14 DR. ALEXANDER: Sounds like a loaded question to me! [ 15 There is a couple of ways to answer it. 16 DR. KERR: It is not meant to be loaded. I am just , 17 trying to understand how you go about designing this facility, 18 what you think. 19 DR. ALEXANDER: As you will see.in the presentation, j f 20 the remainder of the presentation, you will see that we ara i 21 not committed to simply meetd.ng the criteria set in Part 60, i a 22 960 or 191. We have what I consider to be an exceptionally ) 23 conservative program, and as I go throup,h the illustrations to I 24 follow, you will see that it, it is designed to assure that l 25 we, if we find the site to ua ruitable, that we can HERIZod REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 l

304 4 1 effectively ~run it in a safe manner. 2 DR. KERR: Your definition of safety is not that it O 3 meets licensing requirements, that it meets something else? 4 bR. ALEXANDER: Far exceeds those, and those are set 5 by~the goals that we have placed on the various elements of 6 the system. 7 DR. KERR: You would have then your set of criteria 8 independently of NRC which you want to meet? 9 DR. ALEXANDER: That is correct. Okay. Now they 10 are called tentative goals because we expect thatw e will up , i 11 doing tradeoffs as we learn more and more'about the site and 12 the design, but in the end I think you will find that it will 13 be extremely conservative. That's one'of the points I want to 14 make as I go through the presentation. 15 (Slide) 16 DR. ALEXANDER: Which brings me to the next slide. 17 Performance goals were set to ensure that enough information-18 is obtained so that performance and safet an be 19 demonstrated. The performance goals focus the testing program 20 on performance and design issues. Performance goals set with 21 care provide adequate flexibility to address alternativ6 22 conceptual models and working hypotheses. 23 DR. STEINDLER: Excuse me. That first bullet again? 24 DR. ALEXANDER: Performance goals? () 25 DR. STEINDLER: Yes. You are setting goals in HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)G28-4888

305 1 relation to the ability to obtain information? Is that what 2 that says?  ! Os_. 3 DR.-ALEXANDER: The goals that we set in the SCP-are 4 set for one major reason. They are set to guide our testing  ! 5 program. They are generally set conservatively, though,-so 6 that when you take the goals as I will show you in ,

                                                                          .l 7 illustration later on, as you take.the goals and run the         f

{ 8 numbers through them, basically you will find that we are, the l 9 bottom line is very conservative,-so the' purpose of the goals, i 10 the purpale of the goals is to guide testing. i 11 DR. KERR: Conservative compared to what?  ! I

       '2            DR. ALEXANDER:  The regulatory criteria set by NRC 13 and EPA.

O 14 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Do you have a table? And maybe i 15 you have shown it to us and I don't remember, but a table that 16 would state that 10 CFR 60 requirement and then your own DOE l l 17 goal for that particular item?  ! 18 DR. ALEXANDER: Yes. i t , 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Or even--  ! 20 DR. ALEXANDER: The answer is that it is in the SCP  ! 21 at 8.2, very extensive detail. Keith? i 22 MR. KLEIN: I am Klein, Deputy Associate Director, 23 Systems Integration. I just want to clarify a little bit what  ! l 24 Don was saying so there is no misunderstanding. ' () 25 When Don is talking about criteria performance goals i  ! I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

m= 306 1 and so forth, he is talking about sub' components of the system, 2 and they really fit within~the framework of the overall NRC 3 criteria, so by meeting these various.subcomponent goals and 4 criteria, we'would be assured of being, meeting or exceeding. t 5 the NRC requirements which are more the overs 1 this is how it 6 performs. We are trying to break it down into sub-systems, 7 and setting numerical standards or goals, and I think it would' 8 be a miss, mixed match. One could end up being elevated, 9 another reduced, but the some combination would then assure no 10 would be well within the overall regulatory limits. 11 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: That helps me. i 12 DR. KERR: You will be satisfied with your system if 13 it fits within the regulatory limits?  ! O 14 MR. KLEIN: Absolutely; there is no question about 15 the adequacy of the NRC limits. It is just in breaking it l 16 down into subcomponents. t F 17 DR. KERR: My question is whether you intend to  : t 18 perhaps go beyond whatever that would mean, the NRC i i is regulations, whether it is sufficient or whether it is simply 20 sufficient and you agree to meet them. 21 DR. ALEXANDER: Keith made an important 22 clarification, but to answer your question directly, the i 23 program is designed to exceed the regulatory criteria - 24 considerably, and I have an example of that later on. i ( 25 Thanks, Keith. I appreciate that. What I am going HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                             '307      ,

1 to do in order to_ help clarify some of this discussion is go , [} 2 through an example and show you how we have used performance 3 allocation in setting some of the goals for one of the most 1 4 important issues, issue 1.1 which Dan Egan and others in the ' 5 roon I am sure are interested in. - 9 6 This particular issue essentially is the cumulative 7 relcase to the accessible environment criterie that was set _by i 8 EPA and adopted by, in Part 60. 9 -(Slide)  ; 10 DR. ALEXANDER: Now going through the steps, first ' 11 thing that we would do for this particular issue--I am using 12 this as an exaltple so I have greatly simplified it, but we set ! 13 a licensing strctegy, so I will go to the next slide and show  ! j O 14 you what we have done. 15 (Slide) l l 16 DR. ALEXANDER: Now as'you know, the EPA standard 17 requires that we calculate an integrated release over a period 18 from the present 10,000 years for, to the accessible 19 environment which in this simple cartoon is shown as a 20 cylinder around the repository. The table is in the EPA 21 standard list, the radionuclides of interest, and lists curie- . 22 limits on those nuclides.  ; r 23 (Slide)  ! 24 DR. ALEXANDER: As you know, the approach that has  ! 25 been recommended for showing compliance with that particular .

                                                                       +

HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

0 308 1 standard is the use of a complementary cumulative distribution-2 function, and this is an indication of the bound set by EPA, _ (} 3 and what would be an acceptable finding, for example, which is 4 a summation, and I will show you that in the next slide, 5 summation of all the scenarios that are evaluated as a part of 6 this analysis, showing that in t'..is case, this particular 7 finding would be acceptable because it falls below that limit. 8 In practice, what is done is that we take data in on 9 a set of variables pre-defined for a given scenario, and we 1 i 10 analyze the set of scenarios, number of them. I can take that  ! 11 information, sum up the normalized release that has come out l 12 of those scenarios, and plot a CCDF. , I 13 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: As I heard you yesterday, we were O 14 discussing the accident dose guidelines, and we were talking 15 about scenarios there. 16 How really do your scenarios differ from an accident 17 scenario? You assume things work properly. I assume, you 'l 18 assume something fails? 19 DR. ALEXANDER: No. Exactly; there are a set of 20 scenarios that I will be talking about later this afternoon. 21 There is what we consider to be the non-natural case, which is 22 the expected set of events that should occur, and then there 23 are a set of whct we call disruptive scenarios, scenarios such 24 as faulting at the site- rise in the water table due to a 25 dramatic climate change, et cetera. That could lead to HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

309 1 reduced performance of the site itself. 2 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: I guess I am wondering where your 3 scenarios end, and the scenarios that would be used to  ! 4 represent an accident would begin? Perhaps there is a lot of 5 overlap.  ; 6 DR. ALEXANDER: If you think about it, they are very 7 analagous because they are both directed toward evaluating 8 safety, okay. And in our case, the scenarios that we are i 9 applying relate to an evaluation of the safety or performance.  ; 10 of this particular site versus the : standards that we are 5 11 talking about.  ; 12 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Of course; now that I say it, I [ 13 realize that what we were talking about yesterday was , 1 C:) 14 pre-closure.

                                                                              )

15 DR. ALEXANDER: That is correct. l 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: And yours are essentially 17 post-closure, f 18 DR. ALEXANDER: Exactly. [ l 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Okay. That's the clarification. l 20 Thank you. i 21 DR. ALEXANDER: You are welcome. Then as I said, we  ! { 22 need to move along and define the elements of the system and . i 23 very simply, again I show you a cartoon of the mountain. If l 24 you read the SCP, it is not this simple. I want to make that 25 clear. It is very detailed, but essentially for making my l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

310 1 point, there is an unsaturated zone that-will,. we willibe 2 talking about in the next few slides; the engineered barrier-3 system. There is the saturated zone, flow through the 4 unsaturated zone is much--flow in the: saturated zone. Inithe. l l 5 unsaturated zone we have gaseous movement up. That is 6 important to consider, and so anyway, this lists the elements 7 that we-will be talking about. 8 (Slide) 9 DR. ALEXANDER: Now as a follow-on to your question,  ; 10 as I said, for issue 1.1 where we are talking about the EPA 11 standard cumulative release, if you read the SCP you will see 12 there is this nominal case. Nominal case spans basically the i 13 expected events based on current information that we have () 14 about the site, whereas the disturbed classes of scenarios, 1i these are classes of scenarios. There are a number of 16 scenarios per class, relate to the disruptive scenario that 17 is, I talked about a moment ago, and so we evaluate both the 18 expected and the disturbed case. 19 (Slide) 20 DR. ALEXANDER: Some of elements that would be 21 relied on to itemize for the unsaturated zone which is used as 22 our primary barrier, in this particular issue, we would rely 23 on small amount of ground water moving through the site, long 24 average transport time in the ground water to'the ground water l () 25 table, confinemer.c of water to the rock matrix, as opposed to HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

L 311 1 flow through fractures, geochemical retardation, and then as a () 2 backup, we focus in on the saturated zone if we need to

                                   -3   -provide us a backup for_ additional flow time, and geochemical 4   retardation through that zone.                                     The engineered barrier system-                          ,

5 then provides us a limit or a break on the release of , 6 radionuclides to the site. 7 DR. STEINDLER: You assumed each one of these 1 8 features have been evaluated for the likelihood-of their 9 performing as you have outlined it? 10 DR. ALEXANDER: Yes, exactly. [ 11 (Slide) . t 12 DR. ALEXANDER: Then if you remember, the next step -

                                                                                                                                                                  ~

13 is to define a performance measure for each of the elements of () 14 the system. In this case, we decided that it might be i i u 15 valuable to ac/;* a ratio of the calculated release to the, to 16 that that waz allowed, and this is just a cartoon showing that , 17 this is the allowed, this is the allowed and this is the 18 ratio. i 19 (Slide)  ! 20 DR. ALEXANDER: So you will see tables in the SCP in  ; I 21 Chapter 8, 8.3 more specifically, that list primary pathways, 22 system elements such as unsaturated zone that I just talked i 23 about, engineered barrier system, saturated rock units, et [ i 24 cetera, which will indicate a function, and for those, a  ! l 25 performance measure. Again, it is the ratio, and in this j [ t i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

  . . _ , . _ _ - _ . ~ . , _ _ _ _ _._               . _ _ _ _ _ . . - . - - _ - _ , . _ _ _ _ _                  . _. , . _ _ _ - . _ _ . _ . _ . . _ . _ , ~ .

t 312 1 -case, for flow through the unsaturated zone, we select a > , 2 number which is less than .01 of the EPA standard and one one' l ( ' 3 hundredth'of-the EPA standard.- We feel we need to know that . 4 with a high-level of confidence because it is our,.part of our 5 primary barrier.  !

      .6            With respect to some of the gas 3s which are            !

7 important, we feel that--again we set-same sort of a' ratio. 8 We set a number which is .2 of the EPA standard, and we feel i

                                                                           ^

9 that at the moment that we need a medium level of confidence 10 for those nuclides. 11 Once we have set measures, the measures, that ratio ~ l j 12 wasn't very meaningful for the scientist like myself nnd so we - 13 need-to translate.that into parameters and then set goals for ( 14 those in the next slide, so, for example, in this case, when j 15 we are talking about the flow through the unsaturated zone, i 16 the flow of the fluid through the unsaturated zone, there are  ! 17 a number of parameters that we are going to rely on. I am , 18 going to tell you a little bit about average flux, effective 19 matrix porosity, the average chemical retardation, and the  ! 20 average thickness between the repository, and the water table. 21 I am going to come back and talk about this in a moment, but f 22 just note the values that are here. Note that for this I 23 primary barrier, we believe that we need a high level of 24 ccnfidence at all those values. l () 25 DR. KERR: What is the meaning in this context of HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

313 1 average flux? Is that flow water or what? (} 2 DR. ALEXANDER: It is volumetric flow through volume. 3 of rock per unit of time. 4 DR. KERR: Okay. 5 DR. ALEXANDER: And then, of course, the next step 6 is to develop our test bases, and the tests themselves. 7 (Slide) 8 DR. ALEXANDER: Okay. For the system we-are going 9 to be talking about more specifically, this afternoon, I 10 thought it was appropriate to pick this particular slide which 11 is again out of the SCP. It shows that if you, if you were to 12 go to the document and look at geohydrology program, you would 13 see that there are a number of models of the hydrologic zone, O 14 some for saturated, some for unsaturated, and one for surface 15 model. 16 You will note in here that there are often more than 17 one conceptual model for each of these elements of the system, 18 and for those conceptual models I am just raising a point that 19 we will dwell on later. There are a number of alternative 20 hypotheses that are presented at the technical level that 21 relates to the parameters that are going,to be sought. 22 (Slide) 23 DR. ALEXANDER: Okay. The test basis development is 24 comprised of two parts--definition of parametcr categories, 25 and then definition of the activity parameters. These are HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

314  ; 1 parameter-categories that a hydrologist would be seeking  !

                     ..                                                             i J      2        information on, and you can read them, and they are in your      i

\s 3 handout.

4 (Slide) i , 5 DR. ALEXANDER: If you were to look into the,-in the j 6 SCP, you would see in the SCP a listing of the studies in the i 7 SCP, and below those a listing of activity, and then  ! t 8 identif.ication of-the-parameters, a long list of parameters [ i ) 9 that need to be measured at the site. l 10 (Slide) 11 DR. ALEXANDER: Now to talk to you a little bit 12 about conservatism that is built into the process, if you were 13 to, if you were to look at the average values for the flux  ! I J 14 through the site, you would find a value which is I believe  ! 1 1 r 15 order of magnitude below the one that is shown here. For 16 effective porosity, you would have found values that range  ! 17 from .2 to .4 typically. For average retardation, many of us . I i 18 in here are geochemists, you know that this is a very  ; f 19 conservative value. In iact, all radionuclieds meet that 20 value. Many of the radionuclides have a factor of a hundred,  ; l l 21 a thousand, 10,000, depending on the nuclides in the  ! 22 situation. f j 23 The average thickness is shown here. Our goal is l I i 24 being greater than a hundred meters between the repository j () 25 horizon, and the water table, but the average distance to the i i j , HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888  !

315'  ! 1 water table over the area of the repository is between:200 and , (} 2 400 meters, so the distance is much greater.  ! 4 3 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Could you remind me, you gave the l r ~ 4 -average distance between the repository and the saturated 5 zone.- , 6 Why does that have a range?- Is that the-- , i  ! 7 DR.' ALEXANDER: Because the repository is slanted i 8 along the Calico Hills, the distance varies to the water table  ; 9 depending on where you.are, but it remains between a hundred l i 10 and 400 meters, that approximate range.  ! 11 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Thank you.  ; 12 DR. ALEXANDER: Okay. So'as you can im&gine--I l 13 think we got these out of order. If you were to take the  ! 1 (:) 14 distance and divide it by the flux and effective porosity, you J  ! 1 , 15 would come up with a value, if you met the goals as they are 6 16 set, with a travel time to that unit of 20,000 years. 17 Now the point that I would like to make is that  ! i 18 there are a number of otner goals set in the document which - l 19 are set extremely conservative. In fact, the retardation 20 factor in upper level strategy is set at a value of one, yet 21 in fact, as I pointed out, the retardation factors are often 22 ten, hundred thousand and 10,000, and my experience is that 23 they generally fall in hundred to a thousand range, okay. so 24 there are several of orders of magnitude that I think 25 legitimately some day will be added to this value, this kind a j HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

                                                                   ;316 1 of a value,    and greatly exton'.the d   time _of transport of a        j

[} 2 radionuclied down those hundred meters or 200 meters to that f 3 saturated-zone. 4 -(Slide) l 5 DR. ALEXANDER: So that a different way of looking f i j 6 at it is that as'we begin to understand those barriers, this , 7 EPA. limit which is exceeded by the simplest of.our 8 calculations, will be greatly exceeded or met by additional  ! i 9 information that we hope to get from site characterization. . j 10 DR. SHEWMON: What is EBS? [ { 11 DR. ALEXANDER: Engineered barrier system, so that , i 12 would be your release range. [ 13 DR. SHEWHON: From the? J (:) 14 DR. ALEXANDER: Edge of the engineered barrier i 15 system: really 1 is the edge of the waste package whole, the l 16 edge of the air gap.  ; 17 DR. SHEWHON: This is a fraction per year or what is  ! I 18 that?  ! 19 DR. ALEXANDER: Yes. j i 20 DR. SHEWMON: Ten to_the minus five of what? 21 DR. ALEXANDER: In this case, ten to the minus five 22 of the inventory at a thousand years. The reason that I have 23 ten to the minus 4 here, I probably need to explain it since 24 you keyed in on it. The reason that we have ten to the minus 25 4 here is that remember we are looking at each of these issues HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 ]

317 1 independent of one another. There is an issue 1.4 which. deals 2 with the release rate from the edge of the engineered barrier ( I 3 system. l ,. 4 If you were to look.at that, you would see that t l i 5 again, the goals that, when you run the numbers through them, l 6 prove to be very conservative,.but for this particular  ! 7 purpose, as you noted, the engineered barrier system was only, 8 serves as backup and so for purposes of simply showing that we i 6 9 meet-the EPA standard, we feel that this does not need to be l 10 set in a constraining fashion, but in fact, as I pointed out 11 on the last slide, if we were to take, actually were to 12 demonstrate the ten to the minus five, that would add another - 13 order of magnitude to the assessment in this particular slide. I t () 14 DR. PARRY: Don, doesn't the engineered barrier I 15 system also .4.c44de the disturbed zone? i i l 16 DR. ALEXANDER: Yes. So the travel time would be j ! e 17 from the edge of the disturbed zone. Is that correct, Jack? f 18 (Slide) 19 DR. ALEXANDER: Now another way that we build in l f 20 conservatism--this is my last slide? Another way we build in  ! I t 21 conservatism, you look at the document, you will see that for [ l 22 each of the stratographie units in the column, rather than for { 7 l  : 23 the total column, we set goals for travel time, water travel l f 24 time through that particular part of the section and you will () 25 note that for the evaluation of the various units shown here, l t i HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (204,628-4888 i

i 318 I i I we are setting travel times. Some of our goals are in the  ; t

2 thousand tc,10,000 years for each of these units, and with-low l

. 3 to medium confidence we think we may be able to show that,-but  ! 4 certainly for the total column of sediments, volcanics I [

                                          ~

5 should say, we expect to show a very high confidence--sorry. 6 CHAIRHAN HOELLER: I don't understand the two  ! a i  ; i 7 numbers. Help.me again.  ; t - i 8 DR. ALEXANDER: What we are saying is that--let's [ i  ! 4_ 9 see. This really provides a bound on the kinds of things we f 4 10 are looking for. In other words, if we were to meet a l i 11 thousand years with low level of confidence, then when you  ! l 12 accumulate that information down the column, you would have i 13 very high confidence that.you would meet the EPA standard as j ( 14 well as the ground water travel time requirement in Part 60. l

                                                                                  ?

l 15 What Mike is telling me is that the 10,000 year i 16 number is set to provide reasonable assurance on the thousand l 17 year number. Maybe you can answer that. I r i 18 DR. STEINDLER: Just an inspection, it is diffictit i 19 to understand how you can combine a bunch of low and very low I 20 confidence bits of information and end up with something that } 21 is very high. 1 22 DR. ALEXANDER: The bottom line, Harty, is that the 23 goal is set to carefully evaluate that part of the section to

I j 24 see that in fact the travel time through it is a thousand

() 25 years or as much as 10,000 years, so that the testing that you i 1

. HERITAGE REPORTIWG CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

            .-        = .  - .      _

r 319' i i a 1 would conduct is focused on trying_to evaluate the travel' time  : j 2 in that range, in that time range, so what that is saying is j 3 that method such as chlorine 36 would be effective measurement 4 techniques for that particular kind of measurement-whereas, [ 5 whereas if the travel time were very rapid, then a chlorine 36 , i  ! 6 type of tracer test might not be applicable, but sorae or the ' 7 other method might have to be invoked, f 4 I 8 What this is, you see, is a message to.the tester of ' t 9 the kind of test that he should conduct. He should be looking i 10 for trasel times in this range, so that's part of the answer. 11 The other part is, of course, they are set with an expectation { j 12 that they would be mot, and if met, of course, they would  ! f l 13 greatly exceed the standards. j ( 14 DR. SHEWHON: Do all of these have to operate in a ) 4 i 15 series or is that a given? Sequentially; if so, then it-- i r 16 DR. ALEXANDER: They operate in series.  ! i 17 MR. VOEGELE: They don't have to. The way the i i i 18 strategies are set is that the Calico' Hills unit, CH unit, j i j 19 this is the Topopah Springs, the unit repository is actually 20 going to be placed in. 1 . 21 What we are telling you here is that there is a fair l 1 22 amount of rock in the Topopah Springs, is that we are not 23 going to rely upon that for any performance. That is why we l 24 set this goal low. We don't believe we need to go out there () 25 and study it a lot because we are not going to ask it to E A d HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

320 1 contribute to our performance. We are going to ask the 2 performance to come from the Calico Hills unit. Now we have 3 several units below that, including the saturated zone, and we [ 4 are again saying we don't feel that we have to spend a lot of 5 efforts characterizing these things. We are only going to ask 6 that we have a relatively good idea. That's why we have set 7 mediums at these different horizons, and now the net sum is 8 that in terms of the performance of the total system, we need 9 to have a very high conridence. We have gone after a high 10 confidence in the units that we are placing our primary 11 reliance on and we are saying the fact that we do have other 12 systems in the units that even thcugh we are not going after 13 in such a great detail to prove that they could be a primary k 14 unit, we are saying that the fact we dc have unito in the 15 system provides us the extra confidence that allows us to say 16 we have a very high confidence that the system as a whole will 17 perform with very high confidence. I think that was the L 18 question that was actually asked. 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: That helps. That is different 20 than the way I would have interpreted the table. You are 21 saying due to these lower barriers, you hardly even need to 22 take any credit for them at all? 23 MR. VOEGELE: We are placir.g our primary reliance 24 upon the performance of the Calico Hills. lll 25 MR. ALEXANI1ER : The next speaker would be Fteve HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

321' 1 Brocoun. It is a little after twelve. I don't know'what you () 2 want to do next'. Steve Brocoun will talk to you next about 3 the completion process for incorporating the SCP and the point 4 papers from the NRC and other comments that we have. 5 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: How long is that presentation? 6 DR. ALEXANDER: The presentation is geared to thirty 7 minutes. 8 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Let me ask'the pleasure of the 9 Committee. What do you prefer to do at this point? 10 DR. STEINDLER: You're the Chairman. 11 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: We have a long afternoon.. Let's l 12 go on for the next one. Were there any more questions for Dr. 13 Alexander? O \~) 14 DR. KERR: What is Darcian flow? i 15 DR. ALEXANDER: I am not a hydrologist. Hopefully 16 one of the other members of the team can explain that to you. 17 MR. VOEGELE: Do you want to ask one of the i I 18 hydrologists? l 19 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What is-- 20 HR. HOXIE: I am going to discuss that. i 21 CHAIRMAF MOELLER: Come to the microphone. Give us 22 your name. 23 HR. HOXIE: My name is Dwight Hoxie. I am with the 24 U.S. Geological Survey. I have just been asked the question r

\-   25 what is Darcian flow, and it is a essentially an imperfectly HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888
                                                                              .~       _ . _ . _ __

322 1 derived relationship between the volumetric flux conductive 2 material, and a potential gradient that describes the flow of-3 fluids through a forced medium that may be either homogeneous, 4 or isotropic or non-isotropic or whatever, but that's 5 basically what it is. It is a, essentially expresses the 6 indication of motion for the fluid itself. 7 DR. SHEWMON: Now that's much more clear! 8 DR. STEINDLER: It is imperfectly derived. 9 DR. ALEXANDER: Of course we are not necessarily 10 adopting, as I understand it, Darcian flow for our final 11 interpretation of, deterministic interpretation that would.be 12 provided in the license application, Marty. 13 The next speaker is Steve Brocoun. Steve is the O# 14 acting chief of the Geosciences Branch. Steve? 15 MR. BROCOUN: I am going to speak about the'SCP 16 completion process. That is the process of going from the-17 consultative draft of the SCP to the SCP which is scheduled to 18 be issued in December of 1988. 19 My first vugraph .i just an outline of the 20 presentation. I am going to 3, general talk about the 21 completion process which includes the milestones, the guidance 22- that we have issued to the people actually doing the work,-the 23 organizational structure, the quality control, the main 24 activities, and then I am alco going to talk about the ( 25 schedule, how we are reviewing and iesponding to NRC and USGS HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- {202)628-4888

323 1 comments, and how we are going to treat objections,cand' {}

                                                                                             ~

2 finally, the future means we are planning with the NRC during 3 the completion of the SCP. 4 Now the next slide is the primary' milestones. I 5 'just want to point out a few. The SCP was issued on_ January 6 8th. The DOE created an organizational structure to complete 7 the SCP. In March, we had a meeting on the point papers with l 8 the NRC. In April, we had a meeting with NRC on the 9 alternative conceptual models. By the 29tn of July, we. expect 10 to have a recommendation for management as to all the things 11 to be included in the SCP. We are planning in early August to 12 have a meeting with the NRC to tell them how we are going to 13 incorporate all their comments and how we'are going to address O 14 the obje,H ons. Then we have the production phase of the SCP 15 to be issued in December of 1988. 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Have you had any response from 17 the State of Nevada? 18 MR. BROCOUN: We have to this date, to my knowledge, l 19 have had no response from the State of Nevada. We have sent 20 them 2 letter asking them to respond by the end of June, which 21 is a few days away. l 22 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. l l 23 MR. GERTZ: We are expecting a, quite a response l 24 shortly. 25 HR. BROCOUN: We have been told informally that we HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - .(202)628-4888'

324 1 will have comments that will be at least as voluminous as the f- 2 SCH. be 3 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: That is helpful, because in.the 4 previous discussions, we had understood that since it was a 5 consultation draft, we were we not informed that Nevada was 6 not goin, to comment? 7 MR. BROCOUN: I think that earlier in the 8 consultation process Nevada told us several times they were 9 not going to make comment, but my understanding is I guess 10 they have changed their mind. 11 DR. STEINDLER: When you say by the 29th of July, 12 you intend to have approval of management with the proposed 13 changes, are you talking DOE management? 14 MR. BROCOUN: Yes, DOE management. In'other Nords, 15 we will have reviewed each comment, we will have come up with 16 changes to the text. We will have by then more-or less 17 completed the tables for the conceptual models and this kind l 18 of thing. We will have decided for each, again each comment l l 19 how voluminous the change has to be, and so on. I think that 20 at that point, we will know well, have a good idea from the 21 people who work on the SCP standpoint what changes we are, 22 propose to incorporate. i 1 23 DR. STEINDLER: .Are you prepared in the event your I l 24 August meeting noted on the slide turns up some disagreements () 25 between yourself and the NRC to iterate that process once HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 {

325 1 more? 2 MR. BROCOUN: I think if we have a small or moderate 3 ' disagreement we can probably incorporate it because we have 4 several, we have several months to incorporate. If there are 5 major disagreements, it might impact our schedule.- I think 6 that's a fair answer. 7 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Will the copy-of the State of 8 Nevada's comments automatically go to the NRC? Will they 9 receive a copy and will this Committee receive a copy? 10 MR. BROCOUN: I am sure that the State of Nevada--I 11 am not sure, but I would expect they are going to send a copy. 12 If they don't, I guess we will. Is that a fair statement? 13 CHAIRMAN HOELLER: Okay. Thank you. ( 14 MR. GERTZ: We will make sure the staff of the 15 Ccemittee gets a copy. 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thanks. 17 MR. BROCOUN: My next slide is the guidance for 18 completion of the Yucca Mountain SCM. It was developed to set 19 a mechanism to ensure that the revisions are of appropriate 20 quality and consistent with the general guidance in DOE's SCP 21 management plan. 22 It was developed also to make, to assure that we 23 meet the December deadline, and the guidance specifies the 24 organizational structure, the activities to be completed,- and () 25 the interim milestones. HERITAGE REPORTING' CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

326 1 The next vugraph is just a pictorial to show the {} 2 organization. The four vertical boxes, the very top box, 3 represents the aqua one and project office management They 4 would include such people as Ralph-Stein, who is the director 5 of the Office of Systems Integration Regulations, and Steve 6 Gale, who is here today who is director of the Office of 7 Facility Siting and Development, and Carl Gertz, the project 8 manager from Nevada. 9 The next box, the next three boxes, the program 10 review group, the PRG integration group, the IG and working 11 groups I will describe on the following slides. 12 (Slide) 13 MR. BROCOUN: The program review group,-to assess I') 14 the integrated program; it assesses and approves the resisicas 15 proposed by the in'cegration and working group. It reviews and 16 gives guidance on proposed comment disposition and makes-17 recommendations, interfaces between the people doing the work 18 on the SCP and DOE management. 19 The membership includes management level staff from 20 DOE headquarters, and the project office. I am the chairman 21 of that group. Two other members of that group are here 22 today--Don Alexander, who just spoke to you a few moments ago, I 23 and Max Blanchard from the project office, who wil' be 24 speaking this afternoon. Other members include Ram;a Holdi 25 for the repository, Jack Hale for surface facilities, and the _ _ ___ - _ - - _ -- ""*^ " ""! "" c "" ^^T' " -- (202)628-4888

327' 1 waste-package,'Nello Gobo--all people from the headquarters, _ 2- and Larry Scalison from the project office on the engineering (/ 3 side of the shop. Most of the members are from headquarters. 4 The next group on the chart down is the integration 5 group. This is the group that takes the guidance,-the overall 6 guidance, and turns it into detailed instructions to the 7 working groups. It assesses--all the work-groups are doing 8 the actual werk of revising the SCP and assessing changes 9 occurs in the working groups. It coordinates among the 10 working groups. It is the true integrator in the SCP 11' completion, and it makes recommendations to the PRG. 12 The membership of the integration group is about 13 fifteen individuals, most of them from the project office, but ( 14 several members from headquarters. The chairman of that group 15 is Max Blanchard of the project office, so he is on both the 16 PRG and the IG, and he searches out interfaces between the 17 two. There are senior representatives from all the 18 participating organizations, including the GS, the national 19 laboratories, and the technical support contractor for the 20 project office. 21 (Slide) 22 MR. BROCOUN: There are eight working groups, and 23 their responsibilities are to review and evaluate--they have 24 done this, E activity. There are 320 activities in the SCP () 25 that have been reviewed for their necessity, and they have ' HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION'-- (202)628-4888

                                                            '328 1 been roughly prioritized. Each activity has been reviewed in

(} 2 terms of cost and schedule and helping us complete the 3 schedule of the SCP. At the present time, the working groups 4 are looking at all the comments and proposing text revisions. 5 They are also, throughout the process have proposed program  : 6 revisions, and the-next bullet lists all the eight working 7 groups. i 8 For example, working group 8 is the group working on  ; 9 alternative conceptual models. The membership consists of , c 10 senior technical people from the project office, from 11 headquarters, and from all the participants, and encompass all 12 these different fields that I have shown in my vugraph, all r 13 the major fields that make up the SCP. Other people are  ; O 14 brought in as needed, too, depending on the.particular problem 15 that they are addressing. 16 (Slide) i 17 M7. BROCOUN: The next vugraph discusses the quality 18 control and the SCP completion process. i l 19 DR. STEINDLER: Why do you need that structure? i 20 Could you provide an estimate of the number of FTEs and how -

                                                                      -l 21 much effort DOE is putting into this?

1 22 MR. BROCOUN: I would say there are probably a i 23 hundred to maybe 150 people working on the SCP completion. Is ' l 24 that--I am looking at Carl Gertz. l It is most of his people 25 that are working. I would say it is about that many people l HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888 j

329 1 ' working on SCP completion. 2 DR. STEINDLER: Is this that process that.has been 3 going on for six months?

     '4            MR. BROCOUN:      It has been going on since March.

5 DR. STEINDLER: Thank you. 6 MR. BROCOUN: I think one of the early vugraphs I 7 showed you, this completion process was implemented in late 8 February and actually started in early March. 9 MR. GERTZ: Probably that many people, but more FTEs - 10 because they are working more than 40 hours a week. 11 MR. BROCOUN: That is true--as many people are 12 working weekends and seven day weeks to get this job done. 13 (Slide) 14 MR. BROCOUN: The vugraph on the screen discusses 15 how we are controlling quality. The first bullet is we have 16 had a formalized SCP completion process and we have both 17 headquarters and project office management plans, so we have 18 an organization structure. We have' assigned responsibilities, i 19 and we have a process for completing the SCP. There is a 1 20 procedure in place for documenting, for polls and actual i 21 disposition of all comments, and these will be recorded on 22 resolution sheets. 23 There is administrative record which is being kept j 24 on the SCP both on the SCP/CD and the SCP itself. There are () 25 audits and surveillances. The SCP has a QA level 2. There i HERITAGE REPORTIllG CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

330 , 1 are procedures in place that the project follows in all text (') (- 2 changes and all comment dispositions. The completion process 3 has established overview groups. 'The integration group which 9 4 integrates all the work at the project and the program review 5 group which approves and pro' rides guidance for the complete - 6 SCP; there are independent consultants who were used in the 7 completion of the SCP/CD and have been used and will be used 8 .to ccmpletion of the CD. There are also other offices that 9 need to concur on the SCP before it is issued -environmental 10 and health who have a representative here today Ond general i 11 counsel, both are going to review and will make comt ent and 12 will need to concur on the SCP before it is issued, so that t 13 these are all the various ways we are controlling quality in ' 0 14 the SCP. . 15 DR. STEINDLER: What sort of input do you expect 16 from the environmental and the counsel? What are they going 17 to review this for? - 1 e 18 MR. BROCOUN: The environmental people have had a i 19 very active role. They are attending most of the meetings of l 20 the PRG. They are attending some of the meetings of the  ; 21 integration group of the project. They are very concerned 22 that they get enough time, that they review the document. 23 They have played a very active role in reviewing the SCP, i 24 okay. And they are not a disinterested party at all to date.  ; 25 They have someone here today from E and H even. ' HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

331 1 CHAIRMAN KERR: I thought I heard him'ask what you

     .       2    expected them to review the document ~for, not how ingenious or 3    energetic they would be.

4 MR. BROCOUN: I.think they are trying to, well, 5 their main focus is to be, make sura we are checking the kind 6 of information that will be required to input.to the EIS, and 7 any other environmental-dccuments that need to be issued for 8 the SCP. I think that is their main role. 9 DR. STEINDLER: How about legal? 10 MR. BROCOUN: The legal people are interested in how 11 we state things, make sure we are following the regulations, 12 both the NRC and the DOE regulations, and the other DOE 13 orders. I think we have the legal aspect in mind in reviewing 14 the SCP. They have not played quite the role that EH h'as in-15 terms of how active they have been to date. 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Cliff? We have another question. I 17 DR. SMITH: Just a question--I notice you say it is 18 I a statutory issuance date on the December 30th, and backing up ' 19 by July 29th, you want to complete approval of the proposed 20 chances. 21 When are you going to get the report from Nevada? 22 MR. BROCOUN: If they give us comments, they are due 23 by the end of this month. I I 24 DR. SMITH: So you will have one month to review () 25 their changes, what they are saying, and any, incorporate any HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4588

332 1 subsequent changes as I read this? 2 MR. BROCOUN: When we get their comments, I think we 3 will have to reassess our schedule. This schedule _was made up 4 prior to our knowledge or rumors that comments were~ coming in, 5 and based on the USGS, NRC comments we had in hand. 6 Now depending on the extent.of their comments, and 7 whether they represent new comments or comments that have 8 already been made by the GS, NRC, I think we will have to 9 reassess the schedule. 10 DR. SMITH: Just a couple--but you are still bound-11 by this 12-30-88 date? 12 MR. BROCOUN: We are still--we are trying to issue 13 the SCP by December of '88, yes. O 14 DR. SMITH: Last but not least, what is the legal 15 requirement to satisfy Nevada's concerns? I mean you are 16 going to end up at some point where you are disagreement with 17 them. 18 MR. BROCOUN: I am not a lawyer, but I think that we 19 want to treat the Nevada comments .?imilarly to how we are 20 treating the NRC and the USGS comments. 21 MR. REGNIER: I am wondering if you may have 22 misinterpreted the term. You referred to the statutory _SCP. 23 There is no requirement in law that the SCP be issued on 24 12-30. That's our own requirement. We sometimes have 25 referred to that, the final version, as the statutory version HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

333 1 to distinguish it from the consultative-draft. t 2 DR. SMITH: When I say'see that word statutory,'I

                                                 }

3 automatically think-- 4 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Keep in mind, which I tend to [ 5 forget, that when the statutory SCP is issued, at that time, 6 NRC will formally review it and respond, and Nevada and so i' 7 forth. All of the review at the moment is preliminary, and-- 8 MR. BROCOUN: It is preliminary, and I think from a 9 legal point of view, informal.  ! 10 DR. SMITH: Okay. So this is the first go-around.  ! 11 MR. BROCOUN: First official review will be when the , 12 SCP is issued in December, yes. 13 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Hopefully the preliminary review ( 14 will make-- 15 DR. SMITH: Resolve a lot of problems. 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Resolve a lot of problems and i 17 make the final review much more easily accomplished. 18 MR. BROCOUN: Okay? The next vugraph lists the j 19 activities which are more or less going on in parallel to 20 complete the SCP. l l 21 The first is the development of issue closure 22 methodology which Don has discussed in quite a bit of detail l 23 this morning. This is to decide when do we have enough i 24 information, how do-we develop a position, and how do we ("N I

                                  \-)                              25 interface with the NRC?                                                                                                                                      1 i

I HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

334 , 1 The second.was the consultation process which will

                                                                        ~

2 be discussed a little more later. 3 The third is the internal review of the SCP/CD and 4 - that had three phases. The first phase was a review:of tre 5 importance of each activity which was done by the working i 6 groups, and reviewed by the integration and program review f 7 groups. I 8 The second was.to establish a scope and duration and 9 cost for each activity so that we can develop accurate l 10 schedoles and networks which is in the process of being  : 11 completed right now. 12 And the third phase is to, based on all the comments 13 we received, to recommend proposed, what the proposed SCP f i O- 14 should look like, the proposed changes to the SCP/CD, and 15 that's going on right now. 16 Point No. 4 really was covered in Phases 1 and 2. 17 Point No. 5 a s study plan development. We have two study 18 plans, as think was mentioned early, in review at NRC. We i 19 have perhaps another eight at headquarters for review, and_I i 20 believe the project has several maybe 20 or 30, in various 21 stages of development and review at the project office. 22 The last point is just a prduction of the SCP, and 23 that kind of follows the first five. 24 (Slide) () 25 HR. BROCOUN: The next vugraph just shows you the HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - .(202)628-4888

335 1 visual interpretation of the schedule. We are right here {} 2 today, the ACNW briefing. Basically we evenLhave Nevada state 3 comments are expected from about now until the end of July. 4 We would be revising the SCP. Then we have internal 5 headquarters review, and then we would go into production of 6 the SCP. 7 Depending on the kind of comments we get with the 8 NRC, which we have right here shown, there may be some more 9 changes. 10 The arrows on top are the actual steps in completion 11 of the SCP; arrows on the bottom are meetings with the NRC. 12 DR. STEINDLER: Before you leave that one, there is 13 a scheduled meeting of DOE, NRC, seismic tetonics, on seismic O 14 tetonics in December'after the cemera ready copy goes to the 15 GPO. Would you explain that? 16 MR. BROCOUN: That is not a meeting that as we 17 envision : hat would influence the SCP-and in fact it was meant 18 not te be on this vugraph, but that is a meeting that the NRC 19 has requested of the DOE staff, one of two meetings on seismic 20 tetonics. 21 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: What is the EEILmeeting on 6-24? 22 MR. BROCOUN: We briefed the Addison Electric 23 Institute a few days ago on status of the SCP and many other 24 aspects of the aqua. We had a one-day meeting with EEI 25 representatives, and I gave them a briefing very similar to HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

336 1 this, but there were numerous other briefings on the whole 2 program. 3 . CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Thank you. 4 MR. BROCOUN: Okay. The next vugraph is how we are 5 handling the review and response to NRC and USGS comments. 6 Okay. We have--headquarters reviewed all the NRC comment.',, 7 and all the USGS comments. We, of course, met with the NRC 8 staff in March to get a better understanding of their 9 comments. The program review group reviewed the comments, 10 made recommendations, and passed them down to the IG which in 11 turn developed detailed instructions and passed the comments 12 to the working groups for resolution. 13 For each comment we had a suggested resolution. ",r O 14 those comments that reflected the ability to characterize the 15 site, or the ability to contain isolation or affected safety, 16 we gave a higher priority to. Not all comments will be 17 addressed in the SCP. All comments will be addressed but not 18 necessarily in the SCP. Some of them will be addressed in the 19 comment response forms. 20 DR. STEINDLER: Did the USGS provide you with a set 21 of written, documented comments? 22 HR. BROCOUN: They provided us with a 200-page 23 document which we reviewed and subdivided into comments. It 24 was not numbered in a series of comments, and we divided it ( 25 into about 700 comments. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)S28-488L

337 1 DR. STEINDLER: Was that a public document?- ~N 2 MR. BROCOUN: We have sent a copy to the NRC and we

 ]
            '3       sent a copy to the state, so it is public in a sense that we 4      have sent it out.                    The GS just sent it to us.        Okay.

5 For about a month now, the various working groups , 6 have been working on the comments, and they are coming with i 7 proposed responses to each of the comments by July 8th. Then 8 the integration group--and then later the integration group , I

              ?      and the program review group will meet to review-and' approve 10         all the text revisions, and that's what will be done by about                                          i 11         the 29th of July.

12 (Slide) i t 13 MR. BROCOUN: The next vugraph concerns treatment of  ; 14 the NRC objections and Ed Regnier kind of covered that. I , 15 will just go over it quickly. 16 The first objection is the alternative conceptual ' L 17 models. Basically there is inadequate consideration of the 18 alternative concept with models in the SCP. We had a workshop  ; 19 with the staff to discuss alternative conceptual models, and 20 we have set up a working group, working group 8, that was 21 established to develop input for these, to input for the SCP, f 22 and I have a presentation later this afternoon on alternative 23 conceptual models. l, 24 There are three objections concerning the 25 exploratory shaft facility, so we have set'up a task group HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

338 , 1- again within the completion process, to address all the ESF. 2 related objections and to. prepare. text revisions for 3 incorporat1on. Section 84, that is site preparation, to, cover 4 particularly the potential interferences and any adverse - 5 -impacts on isolation from the construction of the shafts. 6 Now-with regard to objection 2, the impact of 7 penetration on the Calico Hills we are, we are reassessing 8 plans or how we are going to characterize the Calico Hills ' 9 until we decide what the optimum way to go is. .We are.not i 10 going co extend the shaft or the shafts into the Calico Hills. 11 We are doing an analysis to see what the best way in terms of  ! 12 cost / benefit versus risk is in terms of balancing say drill i l 13 holes and shafts and drift into the Calico Hills. Until that C) 14 is completed, we will not extend the shaft into the Calico i 15 Hills. 16 In terms of objection, interference between the 17 shafts, between shafts and text activities, and objection on 18 the adverse impacts of shaft location, we are having a meeting 19 with the staff, the NRC staff, on the 18th of July. We are  ! 20 also--those will be addressed in Section 8.4, and this working 21 group is preparing a text for that.  ; 22 The last objection is a quality assurance objection. l 23 That referred to the lack of approved QA plans and procedures. 24 DOE is committed, has committed to the NRC to have fully  ; O 25 qualified QA program in place prior to initiating new site HERITAGE REPORTING COhPORATION -- (202)628-4888

339 1 characterization activities. 2 DR. KERR: Does the NRC have an approved QA plan for (~Nh

  \s 3 their review?

4 MR. BROCOUN: I think you need to ask the MIu:. staff 5 that. 6 DR. KERR: I thought maybe they had showed you , 7 theirs as an example. Does the NRC? 8 MR. STABLINE: We may have someone who can answer 9 that in this afternoon's session. 10 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Your name? , 11 MR. STABLINE: Mr. King Stabline. i 12 MR. BROCOUN: We are scheduled'to meet with DOE on  : 13 QA on the 7th of July, and as the QA issue really transcends (')' 14 the SCP, it is something that affects the whole program, it is 15 being addressed in parallel with SCP completion. It is not i , a 16 really a part of SCP completion. It is a separate and j 17 parallel effort.  !

                                                                           )

18 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: But you have had many other  ! l 19 meetings with NRC on QA? l i 20 MR. BROCOUN: Yes, there have been, and HRC has 21 raised several issues on that before, that is correct. 22 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: And they have done the, whatever 23 you call it, where they visited the Los Alamos-- 24 HR. BROCOUN: The audit. 25 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: The audit. HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

L 340-1 M R '. BROCOUN: That is correct, and part of, just to l f 2 amplify, and part of our accounting, we have compiled all'the k - 3 comments that the NRC has made to us over the last several 4 years on QA, and we are addressing'that in preparing our QA i 5 plans. Okay. 6 This is the very last slide, just summarizes the 7 meetings that are coming up which I have mentioned already. ) i 8 These are meetings directly relating to the completion of the  ! 9 SCP. We have the first meeting on the 7th of July, which

                                                                                                                                                                        .i i

10 concerns QA. We have the meeting on the 18th of July, on the i 11 ESF issues, and finally, in August, in early August, we hope f i 12 we will have a meeting to tell the NRC staff what our planned f t 13 responses are to all their comments and objections in their l t 14 point papers, i 15 And that concludes my presentation. . I 16 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Yes. Dr. Kerr? - 17 DR. KERR: Have you found anything up to this point { 18 that would lead you to believe that this site might not'be 19 suitable? f i I 20 MR. BROCOUN: No, I don't think we have found 21 anything at this point that would lead us to believe the site i 22 is not suitable.  ! 23 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: Other questions for Dr. Brocoun? l i 24 There are none. I () 25 So thank you very much. You predicted a half hour, HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION - (202)628-4888

341 1 and you are just about within two. minutes, which I think is 2 acceptable! ]-- 3 MR. BROCOUN: Good. 4 CHAIRMAN MOELLER: We will now take a recess then 5 for lunch, and we will' resume at 1:30.  ! 6 (Whereupon, at 12:37 p.m., the meeting was recessed, l 7 to reconvene at 1:30 p.m. the same day.) 8  ! 9 10 I; 11 i 12 i 13 14 15 c 16  ! 17 18 , 19  ; 20 21 , 22 23 i 24 , HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION -- (202)628-4888

l l 1 CERTIFICATE 2 3 This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the 4 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:  ; 5 Name: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 6 ) l 7 Docket Number: 8 Place Washington, D.C, 9 Date: June 28, 1988 10 were held as herein appears, and that this is the original 11 transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear 12 Regulatory Commission taken stenographically by me and, 13 thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction 14 of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a 15 true and accurate record of the foregoing proceed ngs. l 16 /S/ fS1 - e,- - 17 (Signature typed): Catherine S. Boyd 18 Official Reporter 19 Heritage Reporting Corporation 20 21 l 22 l l 23 24 9 e 25 O Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

NRC STAFF PRESENTATION TO THE O ACNW

SUBJECT:

UPDATE ON STATUS OF CEMENT WASTE FORM SOLIDIFICATION ISSUES. DATE: JUNE 28,1988 PRESENTER: DR. MICHAEL TOKAR O PRESENTER'S TITLE / BRANCH DIV.: SECTION LEADER / TECHNICAL BRANCH / LOW-LEVEL WASTE MANAGEMENT DIVISION PRESENTER'S NRC TEL NO.: (30 0 492-0390 SUBCOMMITTH: ACNW O to == u=== ^u ra===wranoas to mi acaw =v wac a=,tovii==

O O O UPDATE ON. STATUS OF CEMENT WASTE FORM SOLIDIFICATION l l ISSUES Dr. Michael Tokar ACNW Meeting June 28, 1988

o O O r 3 I i  ! l ! i i i i

    . LAST     DISCUSSION                                                                           (On March      17,         1988) 4 i

I i l

• GENERIC ISSUES

!

• TM!-2 WASTE LINER EVENT
• STATUS OF (4) VENDOR TOPICAL REPORT REVIEWS
• MISCELLANEA i

i i

M M A i SUBJECTS FOR DISCUSSION TODAY l !

• WEST VALLEY CEMENT SOLIDIFICATION SYSTEM (CSS)
• STATUS OF 4 CEMENT VENDOR TR REVIEWS i

I i l

 }

i l

WEST VALLEY LLW ACTIVITIES

• SOLIDIFICATION OF 39 WEIGHT PERCENT SUPERNATANT
• EXTRACTION OF CS-137 FROM HIGH-LEVEL SUPERNATANT
• 600,000 GALLONS OF WASTE
• 15,000 DRUMS OF WASTE

CEMENT FORMULATION - WV

• INITIAL FORMULATION

                    -- FOAMING
                    -- LOW COMPRESSIVE STRENGTHS CAUSE -- HIGH SHEAR MIXING i

1

• MODIFIED FORMULATION j j -- SLOW SETTING

.                   -- BLEED WATER

\ j CAUSE -- ORGANICS ! i !

• FINAL FORMULATION

! -- INCLUDES ADDITIVES - CALCIUM NITRATE, . ANTIFOAM AGENT & SODIUM SILICATE 4 4 1 i

WV CEMENT WASTE FORMS - TESTING

• NRC -- ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION TESTING - APRIL 1988
• DOE - HOT CHECKOUT TESTING 300 DRUMS PRODUCED CONSIDERING FULL-SCALE TESTING l

DEVELOPING LONG-TERM (5 Year) TEST PROGRAM l I i

i - w - CHEM-NUCLEAR RESPONSE 1

• WITHDREW 2 EXISTING CEMENT TOPICAL REPORTS.

SUBMITTED 3 NEW TOPICAL REPORTS (GROUPED BY SOLIDIFICATION BINDER TYPE.)

1) PMC BINDER j 2) POZZOLANIC BINDER l 3) , EMENT BINDER

• REVIEW SCHEDULES FOR THE NEW TOPICAL REPORTS ARE l BEING PREPARED.

i l

O O o LN TECHNOLOGY RESPONSE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AFTER IMMERSION VS. CURE TIME !

• LN IS PERFORMING TESTING ON BEAD RESIN WASTE FORMS TO i

DETERMINE IF THE WASTE FORMS RETAIN STRENGTH WITH EXTENDED CURE TIME. I

• THE POST-IMMERSION COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF WASTE, CURED

! FOR VARIOUS TIMES, IS BEING MEASURED. i i l + WASTE FORMS: CATION BEAD RESIN

MIXED BED BEAD RESIN

• CURE TIME (days): i4, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84

) + IMMERSION MEDIA: DEMINERALIZED WATER j SYNTHETIC SEA WATER i l

• IMMERSION TIME: 90 DAYS i

!

• REDUCED WASTE LOADINGS 1

l l RESPONSES TO NRC LETTER - STOCK

• JANUARY 8, 1988 - STOCK REQUESTS INFO ON STATUS OF BTP & BNL REPORT.
• MARCH 1, 1988 - NRC RESPONDS TO STOCK LETTER &

REPEATS REQUEST FOR INFO.

• MARCH 31,1988 - STOCK DISCUSSES NUMARC REPORT.
• JUNE 6, 1988 - LAST RESPONSE RECEIVED l
• RESPONSE INADEQUATE
• SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCIES WITH CERTAIN WASTE STREAMS

) - DRAMATIC LOSS IN COMPRESSIVE STRENGTHS i

!

• NRC NOTIFIES STOCK OF PLANS TO DISCONTINUE - JUNE 1988 1

i

}

s

h _ . 8 8 9 N 1 A L M I R s P A 9 I 8

                      -    9 H            G 1

N Y

         -         I T       R S       A E       U R           T      N        T E                   A       R L       J O

s A S P N O T O T R E E I T 8 O R L I D 8 P E L D 9 A 8 A 1 R C - - C 8 9 F Y R P I R 1 O L E O T N , U i i E J t D 8 2 P L E O H O C Y S I V T C S N O R A E R I M R A N T S M O A M G E R U N T U S l S - N E D i t N G Y i M G L M N E N H B O l i E I T T U P E t R S N O S G E E S M A T M R E R * * * * *

                              ,       l lt

TOPICAL REPORT REVIEW STATUS

SUMMARY

O SOLiolrIEo WAS>E 80aM aad HIGH INTEcaltv CONT ^iNEaS (sics) June 30, 1988 k Vendor Vocket No. Type Disposition . Waste Chem WM-90*** Solidification bitumen) Approved. General Electric WM-88 Solidification polymer) Approved. U.S. Gypsum WM-51*** Solidification gypsum) Approved *. t Chichibu WM-81 HIC poly impreg/ concrete) Approved. - Nuclear Packaging WM-45 HIC ferralium/FL-50) Approved. Nuclear Packaging WM-85*** HIC ferralium/ family) Approved.  : DOW WM-82*** Solidification (polymer) Approved **. , I ATI WM-91*** Solidification (bitumen) Discontinued. ' VIKEM WM-13 Solidificatioi1/ oil (cement) Discontinued. Stock WM-92*** Solidification (cement) Discontinued. , i Nuclear Packaging WM-71 Solid /Encap (ceraent/ gypsum) Withdrawn.  ; LN Technologies SM-57 HIC (polyethylene) Withdrawn.  ! Chem-Nuclear WM-47 HIC (fiberglass / poly) Withdrawn.  ! Chem-Nuclear WM-19*** Solidification cement) Withdrawn. Q'- Chem-Nuclear WM-96*** Solidification cement) Withdrawn. Hittman WM-79*** Solidification SG-95) Withdrawn. i l Chem-Nuclear TBD Solidification cement #1) Under review. Chem-Nuclear TBD Solidification cement #2) Under review. Chem-Nuclear TBD Solidification cement #3) Under review. Solidification cement) Under review. LN Techno'iogies WM-20 Hittman WM-46 Solidification cement) Under review. I Chem-Nuclear WM-18 HIC polyethylene Under review. , Hittman kM-80 HIC polyethylene Under review. TFC WM-76 HIC Under review, i Nuclear Packaging WM-83 HIC (polyethylene 316-stainless) Under review.  :' LN Technologies WM-93 HIC (stainless / poly) Under review. Bondico WM-94 HIC (fiberglass / poly) Under review.  ; Babcock & Wilcox WM-95 HIC (coatedcarbonsteel) Under reviaw. '

• Approved for single waste stream for or.e year. l l

   ** Approved pending satisfactory completion of thermal cycling tests.                !
   *** Actions completed in Calendar Year 1988.

Q

i O TOPICAL REPORT REVIEW STATUS

SUMMARY

SOLIDIFIED WASTE FORM and HIGH INTEGRITY CONTAINERS (HICs) June 30, 1988 Actions Completed in Calendar Year 1988 Vendor Docket No. M Disposition l Waste Chem WM-90 Solidification (bitumen) Approved. l U.S. Gypsum WM-51 Solidification (gypsum) Approved *. Nuclear Packaging WM-85 HIC (ferralium/ family) Approved. 00W WM-82 Solidification (polymer) Approved **. ATI WM-91 Salidification (bitumen) Discontinued. Stock WM-92 Solidification (cement Discontinued. Chem-Nuclear WM-19 Solidification cement Withdrawn. Chem-Nuclear WM-96 Solidification cement Withdrawn. Hittman WM-79 Solidification SG-95) Withdrawn. O .

• Approved for single waste stream for one year.

     ** Approved pending satisfactory ccmpletion of thermal cycling tests.

Actions Completed Before Calendar Year 1988 General Electric WM-88 Solidification (polymer) Approved. Chichibu WM-81 HIC (poly impreg/ concrete) Approved. Nuclear Packagilg WM-45 HIC (ferralium/FL-50) Approved. I VIKEM WM-13 Discontinued. Solidification / oil (cement)  ! Nuclear Packaging WM-71 Solid /Encap(cement / gypsum) Withdrawn. ' LN Technologies WM-57 HIC (polyethylene) Withdrawn. Chem-Nuclear WM-47 HIC (fiberglass / poly) Withdrawn, s O

O .o O

 /

PRESENTATION TO k , COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE ADVISORY

                                     - DOE / NEVADA ORGANIZATION
                                     - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS-ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS                                                -
                                     - CONCLUDING REMARKS
                                                                                                            ,l PRESENTED BY                                           ij Carl Gertz MANAGER YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT                                       ! '

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA !l FTS 544-7920 j! (202) 794-7920 JUNE 28,1988 3I: I y ' l i

O O o DOE /NV ORGANIZATION WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT OFFICE C. P. GERTZ , e LAS VEGAS, NV SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. REYNOLDS ELEC" TECHNICAL & MANAGEMENT & ENGINEERING Lv. , SUPPORT SERVICES R. F. PRICHETT M. E. SPAETH HOLMES & NARVER e LAS VEGAS, NV J. C. CALOVINI MACTEC FENIX & SCISSON R. L BULLOCK A.M.SASTRY e LAS VEGAS, NV ) e LAS VEGAS, NV l I I I I 'l l LAWRENCE 5 1 LOS ALAMOS t j U.S. GEOLOGICAL SANDIA NATIONAL LIVERMORE I NATIONAL i SURVEY LABORATORIES NATIONAL LABORATORY ! LABORATORY L R. HAYES T. O. HUNTER L D. RAMSPOTT D.T.OAKLEY e ALBUQUERQUE,NM LIVERMORE, CA e LOS ALAMOS ," eDENVER,CO

 ,        PROJECT DIRECTION                                                                                                       !

DOENV. PUBS 1748 f 1 .

l_ - O wupo ono&lZATION O WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT OFFICE -- MATRIX SUPPORT S~ l OUAUTY ASSURANCE --- ~ ORGANIZATION AND STAFFING GENF " GENERAL ENGR. DAVE GASSMAN . J8M BLAYLOCK UI CARL GERE PROJEC W . SAF'. ' ? GENERAL ENGR. DON MARTIN . ROYCE MONKS " '" PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPEC. GENERAL ENGR. CHRIS WEST WENDELL MANSEL O REHKO 1 CER DENNIS ANDERSON GENERAL ENGR. VICKY DAV1S SECRETARY CATHERINE HAMPTON OA SPECIALIST TECHN* CAL DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS AND PROJEr REGULATORY AND SITE CONTROL BRANCH EVALUATION BRANCH AND ENGINEERING BRANCH _ _ l.ARRY SKOUSEN CHIEF WENDY DIXON CHfEC MAX BLANCHARD CHIEF

• TIM ZVADA GENERAL ENGR. KAREN HATCH RECO~

JERRY SZYMANSKI PHYSICAL SCIENTIST

• JOHN ROBSON GENERAL ENGR. DOUG SHIPLEY PROGr.

UEL CLANTON PHYSICAL SCIENTIST PHYSICAL SCIENTIST DENNIS IRBY GENERAL ENGR. WAYNE KOZAI PROU -i DON UVINGFTON ERIC LUNDGAARD

                                                                                                                                                                 .u, PHYSICAL SCIENTIST             JIM OWENS                  GENERAL ENGR.

808 LEVICH ROBERT KAISER EN.a~. .~.EM.eT PHYSICAL SCIENTIST ROBERT WATERS GENERAL ENGR. STEVE LEEDOM LLOYD KRIVANEK GENERAL ENGINEER PHYSICAL SCIENTIST MIKE VALENTINE GENERAL ENGR. DAVE DOBSON WYNN WILSON EUGENE RODRICUEZ CIVIL ENGINEER GENERAL ENGINEER SILL HUGHES PHYSICAL SCIENTIST ANTHONY BACA GENERAL ENGR. VINCENT IORil GENERAL ENGINEER l 800 BARTON PHYSK:AL SCIENTIST NATHAN MORLEY GENERAL ENGR. SHARON CARTER PROGRAM ANALYST VACANT PHYSICAL SCIENTIST EDGAR PETRIE GENERAL ENGR. SANDRA DAVIS-CLIFTON PROGRAM ANALYST VACANT HYDROLOGIST ROXANNE EDWARDS GENERAL ENGR. MARIANNE ANDERSON PROGRAM ANALYST JENNIE CHRISTIE SECRETARY ' VACANT MATERIALS ENGR. MAX POWELL STATE LIAISON l LAREA NEBEKER SECRETARY VACANT TRANS. SPECAILIST l i MARIAN CRAWFORD g i

• h

. 1 E l I i i ' MATRIX SUPPORT STAFF MATRIX SUPPORT STAFF MATF<lX SUPPORT STAFF CAROLYN NNG AUDITOR ANDRES VELOSO NTSO GENERAL ENGR. ANORES VELOSO NTSO GENERAL ENGR. GENERAL ENGINEER JOHN LEDBETTER CONTRACT SPEC. VACANT i OtRECT REPORTING  !

! 0) REPORTS TO MANAGER FOR QA/DC INTERACTIONS l

Waste Management Project Office -~7c NNW31 PROJECT FY 1988 p

!                                                                                                                                                                                              3

O O o , DOE /NV WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT OF fi . CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES GEOLOGIC AND HYDROLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS U.S. GEOLOGICAL ! SURVEY: l REPOSITORY FACILITY AND EQUIPMENT DES!GM. SANDIA NATIONAL , g i PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT i LABORATORIES- ,.__,_ 1 l - l r GEOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS; VOLCANISM; EXPLORATORY  !, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL SHA8:T (ES) TEST IMPLEMENTATION i. LABORATORY:  ! t-i. WASTE PACKAGE DESIGN  ; LAWRENCE LIVERMORE - l NATIONAL LABORATORY: ' i STATECG1.ORF/1-28.29-88

O O o ! DOE /NV WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT OFFICE ! CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES ! (CONTINUED) i l i PROJECT mat 0AGEMENT AND INTEGRATION, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL INTERNATIONAL CORP.: l QUALITY ASSURANCE CONSULTANTS MACTEC: FENIX & SCISSON: DESIGN OF ES FACILITY (UNDERGROUNDi r a I l-i l HOLMES & NARVER: DESIGN OF ES FACILITY (ABOVE GROUND) CONSTRUCTION OF ES' AND SITE SUPPORT - REYNOLDS ELECTRICAL & ENGINEERING CO..  ; STATECG1.BRF/1-28.29-88

                                                                                                                                                             .b

O O O BACKGROUND / STATUS OF THE DRAFT REPORT BY JERRY SZYMANSKI (DOE)

                "CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE DEATH VALLEY GROUNDWATER SYSTEM..."

e SUBJECT CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THERMAL & TECTONIC INTERACTIONSn ' WITH GROUNDWATER IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN r.( g: e ORIGIN OF REPORT ,.g ggy DISCUSSIONS WITH PROJECT SCIENTISTS

 -  DOCUMENTATION: NEED, REQUEST e AN EARLY, UNREVIEWED DRAFT WAS RELEASED
 - MEDIA / POLITICAL PARAPHRASING CREATED CONFUSION e REVIEW PROCESS                                                           '
  - STANDARD QA REVIEW: COMMENTS & RESOLUTION EVALUATE POSSIBLE IMPACTS TO PROJECT APPROACH l

PEER REVIEW REPORT smuseus emm

O O O STATUS OF PROJECT PEER REVIEW e REVIEWERS PROJECT: DIVERSE EXPERTISE (USGS, LANL, SNL, SAIC)

    - OTHER: NAS, NRC (ACM WORKSHOP), STATE OF NEVADA e COMMENTS & COMMENT RESOLUTION
    - TOPICS: HYDROLOGY, FLOW PROCESSES, THERMAL CONVECTION, VOLCANISM, TECTONICS, ROCK MECHANICS, GEOCHEMISTRY, UNEs AT NTS                                                    .-
     - RESOLUTION PROCESS: INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIF!C INTERACTIONS                                                                       e
     - STATUS: MAJORITY OF TOPICS ADDRESSED @ ~ 100% RL                                            ,
     - RESOLUTIONS: CLARIFICATIONS, ALTERNATE INTERPRETATIONS, SIGNIFICANCE e PLANS                                                                                      ;-
      - FINISH RESOLVING COMMENTS & DEVELOP PEER REVIEW REPORT
      - CO-AUTHOR SYNTHESIS REPORT TO CLARIFY TECHNICAL ISf;'.IF" EVALUATE ADEQUACY OF SITE CHARACTERIZATION PLANS                                         ~~

2 7

THE PROJECT'S PERCEPTION OF THE GEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT IS EVOLVING. THERE IS A MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT TO INTEGRATE EVOLVING HYPOTHESIS INTO' THE PROJECT e JERRY'S CONCEPTS THAT STRESS AND TEMPERATURE ARE INTEGRAL COMPONENTS OF HYDROLOGIC BEHAVIOR ARE NOW BEING FULLY INTEGRATED AT THE PROJECT WORKING LEVEL e HEALTHY TECHNICAL DISAGREEMENTS ABOUT THE F; .:.. -

                                                                             .~

MAGNITUDES OR FREQUENCY OF SIGNIFICANT HYDF. EFFECTS ARE BEING EXPRESSED BY VARIOUS SCIEN' .i e THE TECHNICAL INTERACTIONS DURING THE REVIEW Ph0GESS HAVE BEEN BENEFICIAL TO THE PROJECT'S SCIENTIFIC THINKING, AND SOME OF THE CURRENT DISAGREEMENTS ABOUT SIGNIFICANCE MAY BE RESOLVED AS THE REVIEW PROCESS IS CARRIED TO COMPLETION; PLANNED TESTING WILL RESOLVE OTHERS

                                           -               - - - - - - - .           "a

O O O MANAGEMENT IS COMMITTED TO A ,!, COMPREHENSIVE SITE INVESTIGATION l! ' PROGRAM e WE RECOGNIZE IMPORTANCE TO POWER INDUSTRY h SOCIETY , e MANY TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS ARE UNPRECEDENTED

  - THEREFORE, PERCEPTIONS AND APPROACHES WILL BE EVOLVING e WE WELCOME INPUT FOR WAYS TO REFINE CURRENT APPROACHES
                                                    ,_, . . f_Y       !

e WE WILL RESPOND AS APPROPRIATE TO CLARIFY " .. PROGRAMMATIC PLANS t

ago.8 W ooemwotoi . Revtion 1 Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management

       ,'                          Office of Geologic Respositories Issues Hierarchy For A Mined Geologic
             @                                                   Disposal System (OGR/B-10) l O

August 1987 oitiee o1 aviiian aadioact$ve~s?s?u"a'na'g'e e'ni O

1 l DOE /RW-0101 I Revision 1 y: i :' s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management l.O Office of Geologic Respositories l

 ~

Issues Hierarchy For A

                            +   -
                                    ~

Mined Geologic Disposal System ~ j (OGR/B-10) a,;>.

O August 1987 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Washington, D.C. 20585 i

O

DOE /RW-0101 i FOREWORD i g . The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) charges the Department of Energy (DOE) with responsibility for siting, constructing, operating, and ,

.    . permanently closing a mined geologic disposal system (MGDS) for high-level                                 !

waste and spent nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC) is  ; charged with responsibility for promulgating the regulatory requirements l and criteria (10 CFR Part 60) that will govern authorization for the con-struction, licensing, and approval for permanent closure of the MCDS. In l the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), the l Office of Geologic Repositories (OGR) has primary responsibility for the { MGDS program. The NWPA also requires that ' the DOC prepare, and the NRC adopt to the ( extent practicable, an environmental impact statement (EIS) to satisfy the i requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the l implementing regulations of 40 CFR Part 1500 et seq. These implementing  ; regulations require that the DOE undertake a scoping process to identify (; the significant issues to be addressed in the EIS. i In 10 CFR Part 60 and in guidance (Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide i 4.17) to the DOE for the preparation of site characterization plans (SCPs) i for geologic repositories, the NRC has indicated that the identification of j the issues that must be resolved to complete licensing assessments of site .

 ,     and design suitability is an important step in the licensing process.                                      !

As required by the NWPA, the DOE prepared the Mission Plan for the f Civilian Radioactive Waste Management 3egram (DOE /RW-0005, June 1985) to l provide an informational basis sufficient to permit informed decisions to ' be made in carrying out the program for the development of the MGDS. To address the NWPA requirement that the information needed to support the , siting and construction of repositories be a '3ntified, the Mission Plan l f included a hierarchy of generic issues derivti from the applicable Federal regulations that define the requirements for the MGDS and that must be { i resolved to demonstrate that these requirements have been satisfied. ( i The issues hierarchy developed by the OGR for tte MGDS and presented in this document is based on the issues-hierarchy concept presented in the Mission Plan. The OGR issues hierarchy presente the issues,that the I DOE will use to guide the development of SCPs and the conduct of site- j characterization activities. These issues must be reselved to demonstrate  ! compliance with applicable Federal regulations and to support site selec- l tion and licensing for an MGDS. Specific questions that may be identified i during the licensing procesi and in the development of an EIS are encom- l passed by the general issue statements in the OCR !ssues hierarchy. The j OGR issues hierarchy is limited to .be issuas related to the siting and l licensing requiremer ipplicab% Federal regulations and does not ad-  ! dress the requireme. tr N 1utlo.w , functional or operating  ! requirements for t' gui miente for the integration and the i design / operational the MGDS. P thout;h the DOE believes that i this document corc 've set of siti..g and licensing issues, this document wil wasary during site characterization to encompass any additk .4y astre.

                                                      -l'1-                                          Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 The OCR issues hierarchy is a formal programmatic change-controlled document and is effective immediately, its implementation will follow all ,, standard procedures prescribed by the program's baseline procedure (see OGR/B-1). Any changes to this document must be made formally through the change-control procedure. It is to be implemented by the Project Of fices in lll. their preparation of SCPs and should specifically be incorporated into SCP Sections 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3. l ) I ( l I h O O

                                          -iv-                                               Revision 1

i l i DOE /RW-0101  ; TABLE OF CONTENTS '

,   lf i~

rO tm  : FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .-. .... iii , 1 INTRODUCTION . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. . . 1  ; l 2 RATIONALE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURE OF l

THE ISSUES HIERARCHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... -3 3 ISSUES HIERARCHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 5 i 4 B' ASIS FOR THE WORDING OF ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 11 i i

5 CORRELATION OF ISSUES WITH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS . . . . . .. . . 17 l, l 6 ISSUE-RESOLUTION STRATEGY AND THE PERFORMANCE- f ALLOCATION PROCESS . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 21 . l 1 i i f i l s- . I f I h i I 9 I l S 4

        -O
                                                                               -v-                                          Revision 1

DOE /RB-0101 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page , 1 Correlation of Issues to Regulations for Key Issue 1 . . .. . 18 h-2 Correlation of Issues to Regulations for Key Issue 2 . . ... 19 l 3 Correlation of Issues to Regulations for Key Issue 4 . . .. . 20 l Issue-Resolution Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 22 4 l M O 2 O

                                           -vi-                         Revision 1

OMB CONTROL NO: 1910 0900 vFFICE OF GEOLOGIC REPOSITORIES PROGRAM ," , REVISION / CHANGE RECORD

 ~

C DOCUMENT NUMBER: DOE /RW-0101

     -  DOCUMENT TITLE: OGR Issues Hierarchy for a Mined Geologic Disposal System (0GR/B-10)

REVIS N NU BER REVISION / CHANGE DESCRIPTION AFFECTED NUMBER 8/31/87 B-148 Deletion of Characterization Issues iii thru 1 viii 1,3-5,7,9 11,12,14, 17-25 V. O 0222 0012SC esiste vii

l

                                                                                                              .s .

O 1 (Blank Page) 0 1 i O viii

• DOE /RW-0101

1. INTRODUCTION

.?'

() for use The Office of Geologic Repositories (OGR) has adopted an issues hierarchy by all Project Offices. The issues hierarchy provides a framework for representing issues related to regulatory requirements for siting and licens-

     " ing a mined geologic disposal system (MGDS) and for describing the work that needs to be completed during site characterization to resolve those issues.

The issues in the issues hierarchy are defined as the questions relating to the performance of the MGDS that must be resolved to demonstrate compliance with the applicable Federal regulations (including 10 CFR Part 60, 10 OFR Part 960, 40 CFR Part 191, and 10 CFR Part 20). The issues hierarchy is structured around four broad areas related to the requirements for siting and licensing an MGDS (postclosure perfccmance; pre-closure radiological safety; environment, socioeconomics, and transportation; and the feasibility and cost of MGDS development) and provides the framework for defining the information needed to satisfy the applicable regulatory requirements in each of these areas. As such, the issues hierarchy does not specify the requirements that the MGDS must satisfy but rather defines issues related to requirements for siting and licensing. The Generic Requirements I for a Mined Geologie Disposal System (the GR, OGR/B-2) and the associd ed requirements documents prepared by the Projects specify the requirements that must be satisfied by the MGDS. The GR, in combination with the Project-level requirements documents, addresses all aspects of the MGDS, including siting and licensing. The issues hierarchy and the GR are linked by an issue-resolution strategy and a performance-allocation process (see Section 6) that leads to the identification of the system elements that will be relied on to

  'pb resolve the issue by meeting the related regulatory performance objectives and design criteria.

The OCR issues hierarchy was developed to provide a common basis for all Project Offices to plan site-characterization activities. It will be used in preparing the SCP f or each site to be characterized and in reporting the status of site-characterization activities in the semiannual progress reports. The specific use of this hierarchy for other purposes has not yet been defined by OGR. The purpose of this document is to present the issues hierarchy, describe the rationale used to develop the hierarchy, and describe how the issues hierarchy is used in program planning. Section 2 presents the overall ration-ale for the issues hierarchy and explains the structure and the organization l of the hierarchy. Section 3 presents the issues hierarchy itself, and Section l 4 describes the basis for the development of individual issues. Section 5 j provides a correlation between the issues and the applicable Federal regula- l tions. Section 6 describes how the issues drive the development of plans in I support of siting and licensing requirements through the use of an issue- l resolution strategy that includes performance allocation. I O v Revision 1 1

 ~
                                                                                                          'l O.

Blank Page O O

                           .2-                                                               Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101

2. RATIONALE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE ISSUES HIERARCHY Os The issues hierarchy consists of three levels of detail: key issues, issues, and information needs. This structure provides a convenient means for distinguishing broad questions of overall suitability (key issues) from (1)

       . more~ specific questions (issues) ebout the characteristics of the site, the features of the design, and the performance of the system and (2) requirements for the basic information (information needs) used to answer the specific questions. The portion or the issues hierarchy presented in Section 3 of this document and intended for use by all Project _ Offices includes the key issues and the issues but does not include information needs. The information needs required to resolve each issue will be developed on a site-specific basis and
,        will be f ully presented in the individual SCPs and other progrca documents.

Key issues relate to broad-level technical or institutional requirements grouped into four topical areas relating to the overall performance of the mined geologic dispocal system, as identified by tbn DOE siting guidelines, 10 . CFR Part 960. l

,                                                                                                 i Issues are subordinate to key issues. Collectively, the group of issues       ;

under a key issue indicate what questions must be answered to satisfy the kcy  ; issue. Taken together, the issues provide a conceptual outline to structure l the resolution strategies for each key issue. The issues are derived, in  ! part, from the technical guidelines of 10 CFR Part 960, from the performance objectives and design criteria of 10 CFR Part 60, and from the requirements of 7

     . 40 CFR Part 191.                                                                        !

Information needs represent information required to resolve issues and form the third level of the hierarchy. Although 6enerally similar for all i sites, site-specific information needs will be developed for each candidate I site. Additional levels may be used, as appropriate, to identify the lowest i level of detail required. The issues hierarchy presented in Section 3 is based on the issues-hierarchy concept presented in the Mission Plan (DOE /RW-0005, June 1985, l

  '       Volume 1, Part II, Chapter 1). The key issues in the hieratchy have been                i I

adopted nearly verbatim from the key issues in the Mission Plan, and thus they are derived directly from the system guidelines in 10 CFR Part 960. The  ! issues defined for each key issue in the hierarchy, taken together, are iden- I tical i.n overall scope with the issues in the Mission Plan, but the structure and specific wording of the issues are different. The issues under each key issue are grouped into performance issues .nd design issues.  ! l Performance issues generally address questions regarding compliance with regulatory requirements that are related to the performance of the mined geo-logic disposal system. They generally relate directly to the highest level of regulatory requirements to be satisfied or findings that must be made. For example, there are performance issues that correspond to each of the post-closurc performance objectives set forth in 10 CFR 60.112. Performance issues identify the information related to design, site characteristics, and perfor-mance assessments needed to address the regulatory requirements. Information about performance assessments is addressed directly by the performance issaes; Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 information about design and site characteristics is addressed by the design issues and the characterization program, respectively. I Design issues address questions regarding compliance with regulatory requirements re.1ated to the design of the repository, the seals, and the waste package. Design issues may address the design criteria specified in 10 CFR 60.130 through 60.134, the requirements of the preclosure system and technical guidelines in 10 CFR 960.5-1 and 960.5-2, or the information required to support the resolucion of the performance issues. Design issues identify the information about site characteristics that is needed for design purposes. The characterization program will be developed to evaluate the site char-acteristics, processes, and events that may affect waste-package and reposi-tory design and performance. The program will address the detailed informa-tion on site characteristics that will be used to develop site descriptions and suppori ;he resolution of related design and performance issues, including the information needed to demonstrate compliance with 10 CFR Part 960 in support of site selection. Thus, the performant and the design issues provide requirements (prior-ities) .or the characterization program. The characterization program results in data for the analyses needed to address design and 7erformance issues. A characterization activity will take place only if that activity is necessary to provide data for resolving an identified design or performance issue. The wording of each issue in the hierarchy was chosen to reflect the identified interrelationships among the issues and the characterization pro-gram and, where practical, to explicitly tie the issue to the associated regu-latory requirement (s) by citing the applicable regulation (s). Although the key issues and issues are intended to convey precisely the same meaning as the ggg regulations, in some cases the terms used in an issue are not the same as the terms used by the regulations. These differences reflect differences between the definitions of terms used in various regulations and the definitions that i the DOE has chosen to adopt in the Generic Requirements for a Mined Geologic l Disposal System. The issues hierarchy in Section tses terms from this l baselined DOE document. l l l l I t I O Revision 1

                                                '3. ISSUES HIERARCHY                                            j tb        .
              )KEYISSUE1: Will the mined geologic disposal system at (site name]' isolate the radioactive waste from the accessible environment after closure in accordance with the-requirements = set forth in 40 CFR
   -                           Part 191, 10 CFR Part 60, and 10 CFR Part 9607 s

PERFORMANCE ISSUES ISSUE 1.1: Will the mined geologic disposal system. meet the system per-formanca objective for limiting radionuclide releases to the. accessible environment as required by 10 CFR 60.112 and 40 CFR 191.13? ISSUE 1.2: Will the mined geologic disposal system meet the requireme.nts for limiting individual doses in the accessible environment as required by 40 CFR 191.15? ISSUE 1.3: Will the mined geologic disposal system meat the requirements for the protection of special sources of ground water as L required by 40 CFR 191.167 ISSUE 1.4: Will the waste package meet the performance objective for containment as required by 10 CFR 60.113?

  ,1 V. /             ISSUE 1.5:  Will the was*.e package and the repository engineered barriers
     \                         meet the performance Objactive for limiting radionuclido release rates as required by 10 CFR 60.113?

ISSUE 1.6: Will the site meet the performance objective-for pre-waste-emplacement ground-water travel time as required by 10 CFR 60.113? ISSUE 1.7: Will the performance-confirmation program meet the requirements of 10 CFR 60.1377 ISSUE 1.8: Can the demonstrations for favorable and potentially adverse conditions be made as required by 10 CFR 60.122? ISSUE 1.9: (a) Can the highar-level findings required by 10 CFR Part 960 be made for the quatifying condition of the postclosure system guideline and the disqualifying and qualifying conditions of the technical guidelines for geohydrology, geochemistry, rock char-acteristics, clinate changes, erosion, dissolution, tectonics, and human interference; and (b) can the comparative evaluations required by 10 CFR 960.3-1-5 be made? DESIGN ISSUES ISSUE 1.10: Have the characteristics and configurations of the waste 1( ) packages been adequately established to (a) show compliance with the postclosure design criteria of 10 CFR 60.135 and (b) provide information for the resolution of the performance issues? Retision 1 L .. .

ISSUE 1.11: Hava tha charceteristics and configuretions of tha repository and the repository engineered barriers been adequately estab-lished to (a) show compliance with the postclosure design '

                                                                                                                            4' criteria of 10 CFR 60.133 and (b) provide information for the resolution of the performance issues?

k - ISSUE 1.12: Have the characteristics and configurations of the shaft and ! borehole seals been adequately established to (a) show f compliance with the postclosure design criteria of 10 CFR 60 134 and (b) provide information for the resolution of the pe rmance issues? l l 1 1 l l 1 O l O Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 ( KEY ISSUE 2: Will the projected releases of radioactive materials to c'i.' restricted and unrestricted areas and the resulting radiation

      ?*

S exposures of the general public and workers during repository { operation, closure, and decommissioning at (site name} meet applicable safety requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 20, 10 CFR Part 60, 10 CFR Part 960, and 40 CFR Part 1917 PERFORMANCE ISSUES I ISSUE 2.1: During repository operation, closure, and decommissioning (a) will the expected average radiation dose received by members of the public within any highly populated area Le less than a small fraction of the allowable limits and (b) will the expected radiation dose received by any member of the public in - , an unrestricted area be less than the allowable limits as required by 10 CFR 60.111; 40 CFR Part 191, Subpart A; and 10 CFR Part 20? ISSUE 2.2: Can the rapository be designed, constructed, operated, closed, and decommissioned in a manner that ensures the radiological safety of workers under normal operations as required by 10 CFR 60.111 and 10 CFR Part 20? ICSUE 2.3: Can the repository be designed, constructed, operated, closed, and decommissioned in such a way that credible accidents do not gJ result in projected radiological exposures of the general

    </*T(,/

public at the nearest' boundary of the unrestricted area, or workers in the restricted area, in excess of applicable limiting values? ISSUE 2.4: Can the repository be designed, constructed, operated, closed, and decommissioned so that the option of waste.rctrieval will be preserved as required by 10 CFR 60.111? ISSUE 2.5: Can the higher-level findings required by 10 CFR Part 960 be made for the qualifying condition of the preclosure system guideline and the disqualifying and qualifying conditions of the technical guidelines for population density and distribu-tion, site ownership and control, meteorology, and offsite installations and operations? DESIGN ISSUES ISSUE 2.6: Have the characteristics and configurations of the waste packages been adequately established to (a) show compliance with the preclosure design criteria of 10 CFR 60.135 and (b) provide information for the resolution of the performance issues? ISSUE 2.7: Have the characteristics and configurations of the repository been adequately established to (a) show compliance with the () preclosure design criteria of 10 CFR 60,130 through 60.133 and (b) provide information for the resolution of the performance issues? Revision 1

KEY ISSUE 3: C:n ths minsd gcologic dispossi system et [s to ncma] ba sitsd, constructed, operated, closed, and decommis loned and can the associated transportation system be sited, constructed, and ' operated so that the quality of the environment will be - protected and waste-transportation operations can be conducted without causing unacceptable risks to public health or safety? llh Note: The issues under key issue 3 will be identified after the EIS scoping hearings. The issues hierarchy will be amended at that time. l i i { 1 l l l l O 6 0 Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 KEY ISSUE 4: Will the construction, operation (including retrieval), clo-

   -                   sure, and decommissioning of the mined geologie disposal system I<:                     be feasible at [ site name) on the basis of reasonably available
   ?lll                technology and will the associated costs be reasonable in accordance with the regi'irements set forth in 10 CFR Part 9607 PERFORMANCE ISSUES ISSUE 4.1:   Can the higher-level findings required by 10 CFR Part 960 be made for the qualifying condition of the preclosure system guideline and the disqualifying and qualifying conditions of the technical guidelines for surface characteristics, rock characteristics, hydrology, and tectonics?

DESIGN ISSUES ISSUE 4.2: Are the repository design and operating procedures developed to ensure the nonradiological health and safety of workers adequately established for the resolution of the performance issues? ISSUE 4.3: Are the waste-package production technologies adequately established for the resolution of the performance issues? ISSUE 4.4: Are the technologies of repository construction, operation, , closure, and decommissioning adequately established for the resolution of the performance i.aues? ISSUE 4.5: Are the costs of the waste packages and the repository adequately established for the resolution of the performance issues? e Revision 1

l l Blank Page O O Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101

4. BASIS FOR THE WORDING OF ISSUES

            ^
      .             Regardless of the regulatory source of the issue, the wording of the issues presented in Section 3 was chosen to make the terminology consistent with that used in the GR to describe the components of the preclosure and the
      -       postclosure mined geologic disposal system (MGDS). Additional clarification regarding the rationale for the wording of specific issues is presented in this section on a case-by-case basis.

Citations of applicable regulations are f:

~.            abbreviated as follows:

4 Regulation Abbreviation 10 CFR Part 60 Part 60

-                                   Sections of Part 60                        60.x 10 CFR Part 960                        Part 960 i                                  Sections of Part 960                       960.x 40 CFR Part 191                        Part 191 Sections of Part 191                      191.x KEY ISSUE 1 Key issue 1 of the Mission Plan (DOE /RW-0005), revised to identify the site and include a citation to the postclosure requirements of Part 960; key issue 1 of the Mission Plan is derived directly from postclosure system guide-A      line 960.4-1, which defines the general long-term performance requirements for 4

W the MGDS; the requirements of 960.4-1 are based on the technical criteria of Part 60, Subpart E, and the environmental standards of Part 191, Subpart B. PERFORMANCE ISSUES ISSUE 1.1 Overall system performance objective of 60.112 requiring conformance with applicable EPA standards for radionuclide releases to the accessible environ- i ment af ter permanent closure; the requirements of Part 191, Subpart B, of the final EPA standard are incorporated by inference; the containment requirements of 191.13 were the only applicable EPA standard for postclosure releases at the time 60.112 was written; future NRC rulemaking will conform Part 60 to specifically include the requirements of 191.13.

   .            ISSUE 1.2 Individual protection requirements of 191.15; as presently written, the overall system performance objective of 60.112 requires conformance with the applicable EPA standards for postclosure releases to the accessible environ-
    ,          ment and therefore incorporates the requirements of Part 191, Subpart B, of          l
  -             the EPA standard by inference; future NRC rulemaking will conform Part 60 to        l specifically include the requirements of 191.15.

O Revision 1

f  % DOE /RW-0101 h ISSUE 1.3 f ' Ground-water protection requirements of 191.16; as presently written, the - overall system performance objective of 60.112 requires conformance with the g applicable EPA standards for postclosure releases to the accessible environ- W - ! ment and therefore incorporates the requirements of Part 191, Subpart B, of f the EPA standard by inference; future NRC rulemaking will conform Part 60 to - specifically include the requirements of 191.16. - ISSUE 1.4 Performance objective for waste-package containment from 60.113. ISSUE 1.5 l Performance objective for the engineered-barrier system (NRC terminology) from 60.113, with the terminology revised to be consistent with the GR and indicate that the postelosure barriers of the MGDS being considered are the waste package and the repository engineered barriers. ISSUE 1.6 Performance objective f;r the geologic setting (NRC terminology), with [ respect to the pre-was*s-emplacement ground-water travel time, from 60.113. ISSUE 1.7 Technical criteria from 60.137, linking design to the implementation of the performance-confirmation program required by Part 60, Subpart F;.although the performance-confirmation program is conducted during the preclosure g period, this issue is included under key issue 1 because it is required to provide assurance regarding postclosure performance. 1 ISSUE 1.8 Identifies need to address the siting criteria of 60.122. ISSUE 1.9 9 Higher-level findings, as required by Part 960, Appendix III, with , respect to the postclosure guidelines of Part 960 Subpart C; and comparative l !. evaluations of alternative sites against these postclasure guidelines, as  ! l required by 960.3-2-4 according to the basis for such evaluations as specified l j in 960.3-1-5. l DESIGN ISSUES ISSUE 1.10 Identifies need to address the postelosure design criteria of 60.135 for the waste package and provide information to support the resolution of related L performance issues. Revision 1

ISSUE 1.11 , ;s

 .       (l._,         Identifies need to address the postclosure design criteria of 60.133 for
       ,    'Jtheundergroundfacility(NRCterminology),nowidentifiedasthe.

q repository and repository engineered barriers to be consistent with the GR, and provide information to support the resolution of related performance issues.

c. .

.                ISSUE 1.12 e

Identifies need to address the postclosure design criteria of 60.134 for shaft and borehole seals and provide information to support the resolution of related performance issues.

   ,                                                  KEY ISSUE 2 Key issue 2 of the Mission Plan (DOE /RW-0005), revised tc identify the site and include a citation to the preclosure requirements of Part 960;. key issue 2 of the Mission Plan is derived from preclosure system guideline 960.5-1(a)(1), which requires compliance with the applicable radiological            !

safety requirements of Part 20; Part 60, Subpart E; and the environmental standards of Part 191 Subpart A. PERFORMANCE ISSUES ISSUE 2.1 Issue 2.1 of the Mission Plan, which is derived from preclosure technical (p.. a cuideline 960.5-2-1, with citations of the applicable preclosure radiological

     .     ( ,j safety requirements for members of the public in unrestricted areas from 60.111, Part 20, and Part 191, Subpart A.

ISSUE 2.2 Preclosure radiological safety requirements for workers, with citations of the applicable regulatory requirements of 60.111 and Part 20. ISSUE 2.3 t Identifies need to address preclosure accident releases; no regulatory citation is given, as the NRC has not undertaken a rulemaking to define the allowable accident releases during the preclosure period. . ISSUE 2.4 Identifies need to ensure retrievability as required by 10 CFR 60.111.  ; ISSUE 2.5 ' Higher-le/el findings, as required by Part 960, Appendix III, with respect to the preclosure guidelines of Part 960, Subpart D, for preclosure  ; radiological safety; and comparative evaluations of alternative sites against ' these preclosure guidelines, as required by 960.3-2-4, according to the basis {}forsuchevaluationsasspecifiedin 960.3-1-5. Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 DESIGN ISSUES ISSUE 2.6 Identifies need to address the preclosure design criteria of 60.135 for g the waste package and provide information to support the reso!ution of related W performance issues. ISSUE 2.7 Identifies need to address the preclosure design criteria of 60.131 through 60.133 for the preclosure repository system and operations and to provide information to support the resolution of related performance issues. KEY ISSUE 3 Key issue 3 of the Mission Plan (DOE /RW-0005), revised to identify the site and incorporate the term "mined geologic disposal system" as used in the GR; the waste-transportation system is identified separately from the MGDS. Key issue 3 is derived from preclosure system guideline 960.5-1(a)(2) for the environment, socioeconomics, and transportation. KEY ISSUE 4 Key issue 4 of the Mission Plan (DOE /RW-0005), revised to identify the site and include a citation of the preclosure requirements of Part 960 and to include specific mention of retrievability, closure, and decommissioning with respect to feasibility and cost; key issue 4 of the Mission Plan is derived directly from preclosure system guideline 960.5-1(a)(3). PERFORMANCE ISSUES O 0 ISSUE 4.1 Higher-level findings, require'd by Part 960, Appendix III, with respect to the preclosure guidelines of Part 960, Subpart D, for the ease and cost of  ! siting, construction, operation, and closure and comparative evaluations of alternative sites against these preclosure guidelines, as required by 960.3-2-4, according to the basis for such evaluations as specified in 960.3-1-5. i DESIGN ISSUES l ISSUE 4.2 Identifies the need to adequately characterize the nature and feasibility of the repository design and associated operating procedures needed to ensure the nonradiological health and safety of the workers in order to support the resolution of the related performance issue. ISSUE 4.3 Identifies the need to adequately characterize the nature and availabil-ity of the technology to be used for waste-package fabrication in order to support the resolution of the related performance issue. lll , Revision 1

i ISSUE 4.4  ; Identifies the need to adequately characterize the nature and feasibility ,

 ;        -   of the technology to be used during repository construction, operation, clo-          l resolution of the rela ed              ;

O()sure,anddecommissioninginordertosupport performance issue. ^ ISSUE 4.5

 .                 Identifies the need to adequately characterize the costs associated with         l 2              waste package fabrication and repository construction, operation, closure, and        ;

decommissioning in order to support the resolution of the related performance issue.  ; l t

• l t

e l d

            )

i I l O Revision 1 1 i

'h O b t l Blank Page f 9  ; I l i

                                                         )

4 1 O I

                          - 1/s -     Revision 1

DOE /RW-0101 4

              ,                    5. CORRELATION OF ISSUES WITH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

., s..

7. This issues hierarchy provides a unified, comprehensive framework for

 ',                 representing the regulatory requirements that must be satisfied to site and
                ' license a mined geologic disposal system. The connection between the issues and the regulatory requirements was described in general terms in the ration-ale for the wording of individual issues, as presented in Section 4 Figures J.                   1, 2, and 3 provide a graphical correlation between each of the issues and specific regulatory requirements from 10 CFR Part 960, 10 CFR Part 60, 40 CFR Part 191, and 10 CFR Part 20.
  $                        The matrices indicate (with a solid circle), for each specific regulatory requirement, the performance or design issue (s) that, when resolved, will satisfy that regulatory requirement. Although there are numerous secondary interrelationships and support requirements among the issues that are not indicated on the matrices, these interrelationships will be identified and
      .              accounted for in the approach to issue resolution and performance allocation described in Section 6.
   ?

4 s'

   .       G.

g () I Revision 1

l 1 PERFORMANCE DESl?N T.i - KEY ISSUE 1 la -

Postclosure performance. [= g j y 5

lg

• l I c. 3

                                                                              ~

f: g a f I

[u i I S o 5

 .                                                                5 g

O O . - 5 4 O  : i  ;  ;. y 5 g a

(

• 4 =
• i y o
• g 6 m g 6 , , 5 . p ISSUES $

I a a 5 i e l 5 r i f I* !

• REGULATIONS  : :  : : : :  : : : 3 5 3 l

m __ D64.31 8 SITE SY ALUATIONS S l 944.4 1 POSTCLOSURE SYsitu 9 j 944.421 Ot0NYORot00Y 9

 )

944.423 GIOCNIMISTRY 9 g 944.423 ROCK CNARACTERisTICs 9 g 944.424 CLIM ATIC CN ANott S u \ S 944.4-2 8 EROSION 9 l 944.424 OtS40LUT10SJ G 944427 78CTONICS S I 944.423 NUMAN INTER 78RFNCE e f dL 64.113 SYSTEM PERFORW ANC10SJECTiyt g 64.113 SUS $YSTEM PER70RMANC8 0BJECTivts G e # 44.122 SITING CRITERIA S S sc: 64.133 UNotRORoub'O P ACIUTY Otll0N CRITERLA $ u g 64.184 SEAL 0t$10N CRITERIA e 64.138 W ASTE PACAAGE DESIGN CRITERIA $ i l

          't 64.137 PERFORM ANCE CONFIRMATION REQUIREMENTS                            $

i 191.13 CONTAINWENT Rt0U4REWINTS $ u ist.ts INDIYlDUAL PROTECTION REQUlptWENTS $ S is t.14 GROUND.waf tR PROTECTION St0VIREMENTS 9 L - NOTE: l THE SYMBOL e MEANS THAT RESOLUTION OF THE INDICATED ISSUE (S) Y/lLL SATISFY THE INDICATED REGULATORY REQUIREMENT l i Figure 1. Correlation of issues to regulations for key issue 1  ; 18 1 0217 0031MP 3/26/47

                                                                                                  ?>

5 m

             .                                                                                    E              5

^ m  ;;

  ; .                                                                          s e                                                                                                                       1 r              ,                                                                 z o

~

                                                                                                                        \

Q

.:                                                                               3 S                e i                                     KEY ISSUE 2                              o                g
                                                                                 <                w

] PreCIOSure radiological Safety. g o o 9 z < m x e o o e

                                                                                 $               $             C* C 2

• m a 2 Q Q Q W W m a W h z O w I E 2 3 5 E

                                                                                 <  m           <    m         <    o e  a           m    < o_      $    -

o w x o B D w E a a a 0 - o ISSUES E 5 $ 0 o E S 6 5 6 m Q 3 m REGULATIONS E 2 2 3 0  %  ?

  *               ^

060.5 1 PRECLOSURE SYSTEM - RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY e f ,' e 960.521 POPULATION e in g 960.522 SITE OWNERSHIP e u 6 o 960.523 M ETEO ROLOGY e 960.5 2-4 OFFSITE INSTALLATIONS e '

                  ^                                                              e e 60.111 RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION AND RETRIEVABILITY                         e e
                 '*        60,131 GENERAL DESIGN CRITERIA                                                           e f

60,132 SURFACE F ACILITY DESIGN CRITERIA e y 60,133 UNDERGROUND FACILITY DESIGN CRITERIA e 60.135 WISTE P CKAGE DESIGN CRITERIA' 0 40 CFR 191, Subpart A STANDARDS FOR MANA(.;EMENT e 10 CFR 20 RADIATION PROTECTION STANDARDS l e e NOTE: THE SYMBOL e MEANS THAT RESOLUTION OF THE INDICAT!D ISSUE (S) WILL SATISFY THE INDICATED REGULATORY REOUIREMENT Figure 2. Correlation Of issues to regulations for key issue 2. O 19 0217 003105 6/24/87

u 1

                                                                      =

U .- I e e  ! 5 5= KEY ISSUE 4 6 h. 3 , Ease and Cost of development. $ $ 5 ' 8 E S O o a a @ E o < o. o z o w w 5 5 e

• z o < E c a x o w o o >

z 5 g o 3 4 W 8 0 ISSUE $ 5 E o 8 o z 3 < o

                                                                        . e1   9

• 9 REGULATIONS

^

                    960.5 1 PRECLOSURE SYSTEM - EASE AND COST        e

• e e e

              ,       960.528 SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS                  e                  e e E

ac 960.529 ROCK CHARACTERISTICS e e e D 4 g 960.5 2 10 HYDROLOGY e e e 960.5 2 11 TECTONICS e e # . 7 O NOTE: THE SYMBOL e MEANS THAT RESOLUTION OF THE INDICATED ISSUE (S) WILL SATISFY THE INDICATED REGULATORY REQUIREMEP Figure 3 Correlation of issues to regulations for key issue 4. s G 0217 0031MP 3/28/ I 20 I l

l l DOE /RW-0101 k 6. ISSUE-RESOLUTION STRATEGY AND THE PERFORMANCE-ALLOCATION PROCESS [VDOEThe OGR issues hierarchy provides a common framework to be used by all Project Offices in planning and conducting site characterization acti- .

 ,               ,vities supporting site selection and licensing. The rationale for systematic resolution of the issues in this hierarchy is presented in a generic "issue-           .

resolution strategy" developed and agreed to by Headquarters and the Project f Offices. Since the issues are derived from the applicable regulations, identification of the information needed to resolve these issues facilitates , identification and planning of the work that needs to be done to demonstrate e compliance with the regulatory requirements. The issue-resolution strategy

 %                 provides a step-wise procedure for identifying and planning the work needed to suppo'rt resolution of the issues.                                                     ;

General Application As shown in Figure 4, the issue-resolution strategy includes up to 12  ; separate steps, depending on the type of issue, and includes the concept of performance allocation. The overall strategy is based on the identification  !

    -              of regulatory requirements (step 1) and the preparation of a formal descrip-tion of a proposed mined geologic disposal system (step la). This informa-tion is used to define the issues in the issues hierarchy (step 2).      Next, a "licensing strategy" (step 3) is developed for each individual issue; it determines how the components of the MGDS will be relied on during licensing           !

to demonstrate compliance with the regulatory requirements. Using the infor-

i. mation available at the time the strategy is being developed (or revised),

a statement identifying the site features, engineered features, conceptual models, and analyses that are expected to be relied on in resolving the issue  ! is developed for planning purposes. This statement, relating to the strategy for the resolution of a single issue, is called a "licensing strategy," be-cause, when combined with the strategies developed for all other issues, it establishes the basis for the plans to be followed in demonstrating compliance with regulatory requirements, eventually supporting the DOE's selection of a  ; site for the development of a repository and the NRC's requirements for ap- ' proving construction, operation, closure, and license termination for a ' repository. In the initial stages of site characterization, this plan will necessarily be based on a preliminary definition of licensing strategies. , These strategies will guide the development of the programs for testing and analysis, however, and will help to make clear what tests and analyses are necessary to support the resolution of the issues. As the characterization of candidate sites proceeds and better information becomes available, the licensing strategies will be refined, as needed, to better support the site-selection and licensing requirements. The licensing-strategy step and the next three steps define the

        .            performance-allocation process. Performance allocation entails deciding which      !

system elements will be relied on in resolving an issue, identifying the func- l tions that the elements will be expected to perform, and the processes that

         .           will affect the performance of each element, identifying and sssigning speci-fic quantitative goals to measures and parameters that represent the expected performance, and developing a testing program to obtain the information rele-          l vant to the identified parameters. The development of a licensing strategy             ,

(step 3 of Figure 4) is the first step in the performance-allocation process l 1 Revision 1 l l w

                                                                                                          }

h ta 1 g DEVELOP SYSTEM IDENTIFY REGULATORY p DESCRIPTION REQUIREMENTS ,.

       $b nE
       ~$

e DEFINE ISSUES if . V V 3 SET LICENSING STRATEGY if 5 4 IDENTIFY INFORMATION NEEDS: y$ PERFORMANCE MEASURES. IDENTIFY PAR AMETERS, SET 4A I SET PERFORMANCE "GOALS" AND PAR AMETER "GOALS," AND

  ,    !$          SET "lNDICATIONS OF                        SET "INDICATIONS OF
 ,        y           CONFIDENCE"                                 CONFIDENCE" V

6 DEVELOP TESTING STRATEGY, IDENTIFY TESTS, VARI ABLES, AND PARAMETERS TO BE MEASURED V

                                                                                      ,           O CONDUCT INVESTIGATIONS If a

ANALYZE RESULTS V ESTABLISH THAT INFORMATION NEEDS ARE SATISFIED 10 USE INFORM ATION TO R ESOLVE ISSU ES 4 11 DOCUMENT RESOLUTION Figure 4. Issue resolution strategy. 22 >>> > ~ >'> ' >

Steps 4 through 6 can be described as expressing the licensing strategy in certain specifically defined terms and using those expressions to continue the development of information needs for each issue in :he hierarchy and to derive fd,^) an explicit, detailed statement of the strategy and objectives of the test (';

           ~

program needed to support the resolution of the issue. The tests themselves

              ~   are defined in step 6 once the information and parameter needs have been iden-s                  tified for all issues and consolidated into nonredundant lists of the require-     i e                 ments for each area of testing or analysis. Steps 4 through 6 may be itera-i

/; ' tive in that the identification of the requirements for one step may reveal a need for changes in a preceding step or even in the licensing strategy. , (, After the performance-allocation process has been completed, the remain-g ing steps include the conduct of the investigations (step 7) and performance of the analyses and evaluations needed to support issue resolution (step 8).  ;

f. In step 9 the results of the investigations and analyses are used to establish i

} whether the information needs have been satisfied. Once this determination

  -               has been made, the information is employed to demonstrate issue resolution         -
   '              (step 10), and the resolution process is documented (step 11).

8

    .                                                                                                I 4

f [.K

           'O i

I l l l l O Revision 1 l j

                                                                 ~

UNITED SrM S ,, , x DEPARTME F ENERGY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20585 RW-43 OFF!CIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATF USc. $300 1 e a - a E = Ls f) .  % - - h

 -                                                                                       ,l ... .  .

00EBRIEFINGTOTHEADVISORYCOMMITTEE ONNUCLEARWASTE

SUBJECT:

SCPCOMPLETIONPROCESS DATE: JUNE 28,1988 FRESENTERS: DR.STEPHANBR0C0VH

     .cRESENTERS' TITLE /0RGANIZATION: 1. ACTING CHIEF, SITING AND GEOSCIENCES
                 .                         OM     F CE OF FACILITIES SITING AND PRESENTER'STEL.N0:     1.   (202)5M-92U e

O e O

Y . . - SCP COMPLETION PROCESS ACNW Meeting (June 28,1988) Dr. Stephan Brocoum O e -- __ e 7

I - . OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION ON THE SCP COMPLETION PROCESS e GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE SCP COMPLETION PROCESS PRIMARY MILESTONES GUIDANCE FOR COMPLETION OF THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN SCP ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP COMPLETION QUALITY CONTROL IN THE SCP COMPLETION PROCESS PRIMARY ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT IN COMPLETING THE STATUTORY SCP

• SCP COMPLETION SCHEDULE e INTERNAL REVIEW AND RESPONSE TO NRC AND USGS COMMENTS e TREATMENT OF NRC OBJECTIONS IN THE SCP
• PLANNED MEETINGS WITH THE NRC ON NRC POINT PAPERS 0217 8/27/88 3

                                                                   \\                -

PRIMARY MILESTONES e ON 01/08/88: SCP/CD RELEASED TO NRC AND STATE OF NEVADA ! e ON 02/28/88: DOE /HO MANAGEMENT APPROVED PROCESS FOR COMPLETION v - ! e ON 03/22/88: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR CONTROL OF SCP COMPLE" PROCESS ON PLACE l e ON 3/21-24/88: DOE /NRC MEETING TO DISCUSS NRC DRAFT POINT PAPERS e ON 4/11-14/88: DOE /NRC MEETING TO DISCUSS ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS ] e ON 06/13/88: INFORMATION ON SCOPE / SCHEDULE / COST DEVELOPED FOR SCP/CD CASE, AND j RECOMMENDED ACTIONS MADE FOR PROCEEDING WITH SCP CASE . e ON 06/16/88: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DISPOSITION OF NRC AND USGS COMMENTS ON l SCP/CD FINALIZED e BY 07/29/88: COMPLETE APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO BE INCORPORATED IN THE SCP l e AUGUST: DOE /NRC MEETING ON PLANNED RESPONSE TO NRC POINT PAPERS j e BY 09/09/88: COMPLETE DOE /HO REVIEW OF SCP TEXT AND PRODUCE FINAL TEXT MARK-UP i

e BY 11/14/88

COMPLETE DOE /HQ CONCURRENCE REVIEW AND CLOSE-OUT OF OPEN ITEMS e BY 11/25/88: CAMERA-READY COPY TO PRINTER e BY 12/30/88: STATUTORY SCP ISSUANCE DATE i

O e __G_ ,

1 . . l GUIDANCE FOR COMPLETION OF THE

YUCCA MOUNTAIN SCP I

i

• DEVELOPED TO SET UP THE MECHANISM TO ENSURE THAT REVISIONS THE EPERA U ANCE F THE D ' SCP M NA EMENT PLA i

i e DEVELOPED BASED ON A 12/30/38 ISSUANCE DATE FOR THE STATU1 Fi ;P i l

• GUIDAN'CE SPECIFIES:

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ACTIVITIES TO BE COMPLETED l INTERIM MILESTONES I l O a m-oo u k i., 4 1

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR COMPLETION OF STATUTORY SCP OCRWM/WMPO MANAGEMENT l PROGRAM l l i REVIEW OFFICE OF GROUP SAFETY AND GENERAL CONSULTANTS HEALTH COUNSEL 'l INTEGRATION GROUP ,

                                                                        ^ b E'
                                                                         ,      ' NN*
                                                                                  ..s

- 2& E.? ,,,, WORKING

GROUPS i

e e'b t e 0217mJ S/27/se

                                                           \             .

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP COMPLETION SCP PROGRAM REVIEW GROUP (PRG)

• RESPONSIBILITIES:

ASSESS INTEGRATED PROGRAM j - ASSESS REVISIONS PROPOSED BY THE IG AND WGs ASSESS PROPOSED COMMENT DISPOSITIONS l - RECOMMEND REVISIONS TO DOE MANAGEMENT i e MEMBERSHIP: l MANAGEMENT-LEVEL STAFF REPRESENTING THE DOE /HO A' ' ' ~?O ! BRACHES WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SCP AND THE SITE ( CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAM: LICENSING, COST, SCHEDW . GEOSCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSivn_. T 1 l l l e e 2L

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP l COMPLETION j SCP INTEGRATION GROUP (IG) l

• RESPONSIBILITIES:

PROVIDE GUIDANCE TO THE WGs i - ASSESS EVALUATIONS OF SCP/CD ACTIVITIES BY THE WGs COORDINATE WG RECOMMMENDATIONS MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PRG j e MEMBERSHIP: l WMPO MANAGEMENT l DOE /HO REPRESENTATIVES SENIOR REPRESENTATIVES FROM PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY j - SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES i -- LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY LAWRENCE LIVEPMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY l - SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. ' ) l e o - 6 f L__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - . _ _ _ _ _ - . - . _ . _ _ . - - - - - - - - - - _ _ - - - - _ -

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP COMPLETION SCP WORKING GROUPS (WGs) e RESPONSIBILITIES: REVIEW AND EVALUATE SCP/CD ACTIVITIES PROVIDE COST / SCHEDULE ANALYSES PROPOSE TEXT REVISIONS PROPOSE PROGRAM REVISIONS l - SPECIFIC TECHNICAL AREAS OF WORKING GROUP FOCUS

             -WG-1 HYDROLOGY / CLIMATOLOGY
              --WG-2 GEOCHEMISTRY / NATURAL RESOURCES
               -@S-3 ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
             -WG-4 TECTONICS
             -WG-5 PRECLOSURE DESIGN AND SAFETY
             -WG-6 POSTCLOSURE DESIGN AND PcRFORMANCE
             -WG-7 IMPACTS OF ESF/ SITE CHARACTERIZATION                                                                                                    l
             -WG-8 ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS                                                                                                            !

e MEMBERSHIP:

         - TOP-LEVEL WMPO TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVES FROM LICENSING, COhT, SCHEDULE, GEOSCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSY' i'T . .'M ADDITIONAL SUPPORT / OVERVIEW FROM DOE /HQ REPRESENTATIVE (s) e                                     e                                                                                              e7 0217-0088084 gigyjog

                                                                \                      -

I QUALITY CONTROL IN THE SCP COMPLETION PROCESS e SCP COMPLETION GUIDANCE AND DOE-HQ AND WMPO SCP MANAGEMENT PLANS ESTABLISH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, HESPONSIBILITIES, AND PROCESS FOR l SCP COMPLETION e COMMENT RESOLUTION

                 -                                                                           l PROCEDURE IN PLACE FOR DOCUMENTING PROPOSED AND ACTUAL DISPOSITIONS AND APPROVALS l          e      ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD TO BE TAKEN FROM COMPLETE SCP REVIEW RECORD e

DOCUMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE (AUDITS - SURVEILLANCE) SCP IS DESIGNATED AS GA-LEVEL 2 DOCUMENT WRITTEN PROCEDURES IN PLACE FOR REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF COMMENT DISPOSITION AND TEXT CHANGES e OVERVIEW GROUPS ESTABLISHED BY SCP COMPLFTION GUIDANCE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OVERSEEING IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM REVIEW GROUP INTEGRATION GROUP e INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS RECOGNIZED IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP COMPLETION PROVIDE DOE MANAGEMENT WITH OVERVIEW OF ADEQUACY AND PRUDENCY OF SITE CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAM e OTHER DOE OFFICES (EH,GC) RECOGNIZED IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR SCP COMPLETIO'N RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEW OF AND CONCURRENCE ON SCP, CONSISTENT-W!?: QE h RESPONSi?'LITIES OF EACH OFFIC$ W g

o PRIMARY ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT 1 IN COMPLETING THE SCP FIRST FlVE ACTIVITIES TAKE PLACE CONCURRENTLY, FOLLOWED BY THE SIXTH: e #1 DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERNAL ISSUE-CLOSURE METHODOLOGY IDENTIFYING: DECISION POINTS AND GENERAL CRITERIA FOR TERMINATION OF TESTING HOW INFORMATION WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP POSITIONS ON ISSUES AND TECHNICAL CONCERNS APPROACH TO REVIEW OF PROPOSED POSITIONS e #2 SCP/CD CONSULTATION PROCESS COVERED IN DETAIL LATER IN PRESENTATION e #3 INTERNAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE SCP/CD P H A S E I: REVIEW OF "lMPORTANCE" OF EACH ACTIVITY PHASE II: ESTABLISH SCOPE / DURATION / COST FOR EACH SCP/CD ACTIVITY PHASE fil: DEVELOPMENT AND RECOMMMENDATION OF PROPOSED STATUTORY SCP FOR CONSIDERATION BY OCRWM MANAGEMENT e #4 SCHEDULE AND COST CONSIDERATIONS FOR SITE CHARACTERIZATION ACTIVITIES e #5 STUDY PLAN DEVELOPMENT e #6 SCP PREPARATION i 0217- s/27/3'

                                                                                                                                                          %%q.           t.)

TIMELINE FOR SCP COMPLETION

             - PRG MEETING UN SCP/CD (SCOPE / SCHEDULE / COST AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROCEEDING WITH SCP (6/13)
                 - RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DISPOSITION OF NRC/USGS COMMENTS FINAll2ED (6/16)
                    - WGs START PROPOSED TEXT REVISIONS TO ADDRESS NRC/OTHER COMMENTS (6/20)
                       - PRG/ MANAGEMENT MEETING (S/21)
                               - NEV7DA STATE COMMENTS EXPECTED (S/30)
                                      -INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS (7/8)
                                      -ISSUE CLOSURE METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION COMPLETED (7/8)
                                      -REVIS80N TO SECTION 8 4: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMPLETED (7/8)
                                      - VALIDATION REVISIONS COMPLETED (7/8)
                                      - REVISION TO ISSUE 1.1 SCENARIOS AND CCDF CONSTRUCTION COMPLETED (7/8)
                                            -PRGnG MEETING TO DISCUSS RECOMMENDED CHANGES FOR SCP (7/11)
                                                            -COMPLETE DOE MGMT APPROVAL OF RECOMMENDED CHANGES FOR SCP (7/29) l
                                                                           - COMPLETE REVIEW OF ABILITY TO SUPPORT PROGRAM SCHEDULE FOR DEIS/LA (S/19)                                         l
                                                                                          -COMPLETE DOE /HQ REVIEW AND MARK-UP FOR SCP(S/9)
                                                                                                                             - START DOE /HO CONCURRENCE REVIEW (10/24)
                                                                                                                                    -COEPLETE CONCL*RRENCE AND CLOSE-OUT OF OPEN ITEMS (11/e)
                                                                                                                                                     - CAMERA-READY COPY TO GP's(11/25)

ISSUE SCP (12/30F 1r l'1r,r p 1r 1r if ir 1r 1r 1r 1r 3r JUN AA d JUL n n AUG SEP OCT NOV nDEC 1988 1 DOE /NRC SESSMOTECTONICS MEETING (1 of 2 DECEMBER)-

                                                                 - DOE /NRC MEETING ON POINT PAPERS DISPOSsTIONS (AUGUST)
                                                  - DOE /NRC ESF MEETING (7/18)
                                   -DOE /NRC MEETING ON OA (7/7)
                            - ACNW BRIEFING (S/27-28)
                         - eel MEETING (6/24) 0217-oo88RJ s/27
                                                                                                                                                                                            /b

INTERNAL REVIEW AND RESPONSE % NRC AND USGS COMMENTS a DOE REVIEWED DRAFT NRC POINT PAPERS AND USGS COMMENTS e DOE MET WITH NRC STAFF MARCH 21-24 TO CLARIFY NRC CONCERNS e PROGRAM REVIEW GROUP REVIEWED NRC POINT PAPERS AND USGS COMMENTS AND DEVELOPED GUIDANCE TO INTEGRATION GROUP FOR DISPOSITION OF BOTH NRC AND USGS COMMENTS ON 06/16/88 COMMENTS DIVIDED INTO TWO CATEGORIES BASED ON IMPORTANCE TO SCP COMPLETION, WITH GREATER EFFORT DIRECTED TOWARD THE CATEGORY OF COMMENTS DEALING WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SITE CHARACTERIZATION ACTIVITIES ON ISOLATION CAPABILITY OF THE SITE OR ON THE ABILITY TO CHARACTERIZE THE SITE DETERMINATION MADE THAT SOME COMMENTS ARE MORE APPROPRIATELY ADDRESSED OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE SCP INTEGRATION GROUP HAS INSTRUCTED THE WORKING GROUP MEMBERS TO DEVELOP PROPOSED TEXT REVISIONS FOR THOSE COMMENTS THAT WILL BE ADDRESSED IN THE SCP - PROPOSED RESPONSES ARE DUE BY 07/08/88 e INTEGRATION AND PROGRAM REVIEW GROUPS WILL 9EVIEW AND APPROVE TEXT REVISIONS PRIOR TO INCORPORATION IN THE SCP I O e .m em. O

1 TREATMENT OF NRC OBJECTIONS IN n : SCP e ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS OBJECTION: OBJECTION 1: INADEQUATE CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS WORKSHOP HELD WITH NRC AND STATE ON APRIL 11-14 TO DISCUSS ALTERNATIVE MODELS TASK GROUP (WORKING GROUP) ESTABLISHED TO DEVELOP INPUT FOR SCP CONSISTENT WITH DISCUSSIONS HELD AT WORKSHOP e EXPLORATORY SHAFT FACILITY (ESF)-RELATED OBJECTIONS: TASK GROUP (WORKING GROUP) ESTABLISHED TO ADDRESS ALL ESF-RELATED ) OBJECTIONS AND DEVELOP TEXT REVISIONS FOR INCORPORATION IN SECTION 8.4 l OF THE SCP (PLANNED SITE PREPARATION ACTIVITIES) TO COVER POTENTIAL FOR INTERFERENCES AND ADVERSE IMPACTS ON ISOLOATION OBJECTION 2: POTENTIAL IMPACT OF PENETRATION OF THE CALICO HILLS BY ES-1 REASSESSING PLANS FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF CALICO HILLS UNIT FOR INTERIM, DEFER SHAFT PENETRATION OF CALICO HILLS UNIT OBJECTION 3: INTERFERENCE AMONG TESTING AND CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES OBJECTION 4: POTENTIAL ADVERSE IMPACTS OF SHAFT LOCATIONS DOE /NRC MEETING ON ESF SCHEDULE FOR 07/18/88 e OUALITY ASSURANCE OBJECTION OBJECTIVE 5: LACK OF APPROVED OA PLANS AND PROCEDURES DOE IS COMMITED TO HAVING A FULLY OUALIFIED OA PROGRAION PLACE PRIOR TO INITIATING NEW SITE CHARACTERIZATION ACTIVITIES , DOE IS SCHEDULED TO MEET WITH THE NRC STAFF TO DISCUSS QA ISSUES ON 07/07/88 OBJECTION WILL BE ADDRESSED IdRALLEL WITH SCP COMPLETION

                                                                                   -    ..-. 4

l l PLANNED MEETINGS WITH THE NRC l l l, o ON 07/07/88: DOE /NRC MEETING ON QA o ON 07/18/88: DOE /NRC MEETING ON ESF ISSUES o AUGUST: DOE /NRC MEETING ON PLANNED RESPONSES TO NRC POINT PAPERS I  ! i

                                                                                   ~

[ i j om u =

                                                                                                  /5

ilf? M ~ R U T C R E

                                                       ~

U D R N T A SP G 8 X C N8 I 9 E L DS T 1 E A N E 8 , . * - AE H M2 H - D NT WE NN L A OF I CU J N TO A O D A Z I R N D A G - R O l - IjI lI\lll

O O - O . THE SCP _ e PRESENTS EXISTING INFORMATION - e IDENTIFIES ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED DURING SITING AND LICENSING ' e IDENTIFIES INFORMATION NEEDED TO RESOLVE ISSUEP e PRESENTS PLANS FOR ACQUIRING AND ANALYZING INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                             =         r ,
                                            .                                                                                                                        .                 i s,

STATECH.BRF/t-2829 88 p:. 1

O O . O - i OBJECTIVES OF THE SCP - e TO DESCRIBE THE SITE, CONCEPTUAL REPOSITORY DESIGN, AND WASTE PACKAGE DESIGN - l e IDENTIFY UNCERTAINTIES AND LIMITATIONS IN EXISTING. INFORMATION e DESCalBE THE DETAILED PROGRAMS FOR ADDITIONAL WORK NEEDED TO RESOLVE ISSUES REDUCE UNCERTAINTIES e * [ t STATECH.BR8~/I 28.29 88

j o . O - O

                                                                                             ~

1 l SCP IDENTIFIES INFORMATION REQUIRED J FOR THE LICENSE APPLICATION 4 . i e ESTABLISHES AN EXPLICIT LINKAGE AMONG THE FOLLOWING:- ) i REGULATIONS ISSUES HIERARCHY SITE CHARACTERIZATION PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS FORMULATION OF ISSUES AND ACTIVITIES

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS INFORMATION NEEDS -

I 1 i - t e i } ESTABLISHES STRATEGY FOR RESOLVING ISSUES. - l  ! INFORMATION FROM INFORMATION SYNTHESIS .% SUE CLOSE-C-SITE CHARACTERIZATION l l i i ST AT ECH.BRF/1 -28.29-88

O O O ORGANIZATION OF THE SCP

                                                                                       " ?as " '

PACMAGE \ M ' o-mo . i ocsc l PART A ,- y SITE AND DESIGN DESCRIPTION . e co iii'. l _-

                                                                ,                                                            s',f"";' ~

\ cd'" '"l

                                                     "' " o'"S' i                                                                                                               asTun"fee

<<,,, er GEOCHE y SCHEDULES

} - 2 ** C'"""' *

                           ,.                                                             encean"aroe                                             -

3 .. M . Ni$N cowna 2 zJ J7II?' dj7 ] g .- i Ty ..... nsors ,

                                                                                                                                                         ~
                                  ~
                                                         ^

PART B ! i SITE CHARACTERIZATIO i DRnGRAM l C A*" c y ., 4 - 1 .

                                                                                                                                      .      - . r'r/s 28.29 88 j                                                                                                                                                              .

1

O~ CHAP 9ERS 1 - 7 O

~

SUMMARIZE EXISTING SITE AND. DESIGN INFORMATION l

1. GEOLOGY

SUMMARY

OF EXISTING l INFORMATION

2. GEOENGINEERING '

un ~ g 3. HYDROLOGY IMPLICATIONS FOR SITE CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAM

4. GEOCHEMISTRY i

t 1 .. i

5. CLIMATE &

METEOROLOGY ' s

z 6. REPOSITORY DESIGN 9

i =  : i i

7. WASTE DACKAGE i

i

                                                                  ~ ~ rec ?.nris.2e.2s ee 5

O CSPTER 8 O PRESENTS SITE , CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAM l

8.0 INTRODUCTION

l 8.1 RATIONALE I ISSUES 8.2 ISSUES AND INFORMATION NEEDS INFORMATION NEEDS 1 l I - 8.3 PLANNED TESTS ! STUDIES, ANALYSES INVESTIGATIONS } l 8.4 SITE PREPARATION - - l' t j 8.5 MILESTONES - i

                                           .                                                      o 1
 !                           8.6 QUALITY ASSURANCE
 ,                           8.7 DECONTAMINATION AND DECOMMISSIONING                        ,,,,,cy,,,,,,,,,,,
 'I
                                                      ~~

O O O SCP SECTION 8.2 ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED AND INFORMATION REQUIRED - i j e ' PRESENTS THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN ISSUES HIERARCHY l e PRESENTS A CORRELATION OF SITE-SPECIFIC ISSUES HIERARCHY WITH OTHER ISSUE LISTS e SUMMARIZES THE SITE-SPECIFIC STRATEGIES FOR RI SOLUTION OF EACH OF THE PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN ISSUES l l 6 STATE CH.BRF/1 -28.29-88 7

o O O . SCP SECTION 8.3

PLANNED INVESTIGATIONS '

l - e PRESENTS PLANS FOR COLLECTING AND ANALYZING INFORMATION ' l e LEVEL OF DETAll TO BE CONSISTENT WiiH TH.E MAY 7-8, 1986, - NRC/ DOE / STATES AND TRIBES SCP MEETING ) f I i

. !i

                                                                                      .f
.                                                                                       i:

i

                                                                            ~

STATECH.BRF/1-28.29 88 i i

                                                                                                                                              ~

O O - O

                                                                                                                 ~~
                             ~       ~

LEVEL OF DETAIL - FOR PRESENTATION OF PLANNED TESTS

                                                             . ANALYSES, AND STUDIES N

l . i e AS A RESULT OF THE NRC MEETING HELD MAY 7-8, 1986 TO DISCUSS LEVEL OF DETAIL, { PROGRAMMATIC TERMS DEFINED FOh TEST LEVELS k - j PROGRAM: A MAJOR ELEMENT E THE REPOSITORY SYSTEM. INCLUDING THE SITE, THE REPOSITORY, THE SEAL SYSTEM, THE WASTE ! . PACKAGE, AND FERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. IT REPRESENTS AN j AGGREGATION OF RELATED TECHNICAL 8NVESTIGATIONS l l 1 INVESTIGATION: THE FIRST MAJOR SUBDIVISION E A SPECIFIC PROGRAM IS COMPRISED OF TWO OR MORE RELATED STUDIES STUDY: A COMBINATION E IESIS ANQ ANALYSES DEALING WITH A SINGLE OR SEVERAL RELATED STUDIES WITHIN A GIVEN , i INVESTIGATION I 1 s. TEST: A COMBINATION E PROCEDURES USED TO PRODUCE DATA OR l - INFORMATION THROUGH EXPERIMENTS . t

                                                                 ~

l { PROCEDURE: A DESCRIPTION OF DETAILED STEPWISE PROCESS FOR ' . CONDUCTING AN ACTUAL TEST (e.g. ASTM STANDARD) S[ATECH.BRF/t-28.29 88 9

O IMPLEMENSATION OF SCP O

  .                SITE CHARACTER!ZATION                  -

LICENSE PLAN APPLICAllON It I 2 I3 I N I I I _ l CHPT.1 GEOLOGY CHPT.2 GEOENGINEERING CHPT.3 i HYDROLOGY CHPT.4 4 GE OCHEMISTRY n E CHPT.S

• CLIMATE &

! METEOROLOGY . j CHPT.8 CONCEPTUAL DESIGN CHPT.7 - WASTE PACKAGE ,

                               ~

i SEC. 8.1 RATIONAL E SEC. 8.2 I I - 1 ISSUES I I I SEC. 8.3

>           PLANNED TESTS                STUDY                     STUDY                                     STUDY PLANS                    PLANS                                     PLANS
                                                         ~                   ~

SEC. 8.4 - - l SITE PREPARATION - s SEC. 8.5

       $      SCHEDULES

• l-n.

SEC. 8.6 OUALITY ASSURANCE l SEC. 8.7 1 DECONTAMINATION j & . q DECOMISSIONING  !; I

                                                                                                                                             ,,,   a I

c

O O O ISSUES HIERARCHY 1 f KEYISSUEI . I

!      1.1       1.10          KEYISSUEIl                                                                                     i i       1.2       1.11

$ 1.3 1.12 2.1 2.6 K'EY ISSUE Ill i 1.4 2.2 2.7 j 1.5 2.3

• KEY ISSUE!!"

} 1.6 2.4 ' ' j 1.7 2.5 .' 3.1 4.2 I 1.8 j 4.3 - T.9 "

                                                                                                                        ~

4.4 4.5 ] POSTCLOSURE ! WASTE 1 ISOLATION PRECLOSURE RADIOLOGICAL .

                                                                                                                      ~

i

                                                                                            ^

l SAFETY ENVIRONMENTAL j [ PROTECTION, - ! SOClOECONOMICS FEASIBILITY OF j AND TRANSPORTATION CONSTRUCTION ' i OPERATION CLOSURE j DECOMMISSIONING b ' ) . i NOT ADDRESSED IN SCP 1

            '      ~

iTATEDA.BRF/1-28.29 88 ) ' 11

                                   ! !       l           i)!                ii l

8t 9 2

                     '                                                                       8 2

E f

                                                                                             /

F H _ H B. o T  : A l. S L' R D E

                       . TF                            F                              ,

T A NO E ScD0 QC R F O T S E ME C T EC NRE1 R RN O OIV F. 0 E D U I A I R O1 U TT E R T QM R S ER DS D I U C E O TN Q U R F UE E N A E R YR QD R E , R R A M1 T RP E YO 9 N S O R SE 1 T L ONE R I T O AL I Y LA TI U U R T A H UR A ES L DS EP QA M GE U R C I R R R EV GE E R OS RO R WECF FE O A L O SUF C I

                                                                                 .N S U R              E T          FNSI                                       I E              V            OAS EC04    I                              LI S I

E G P 0 A H L TE Y , SB E S 6906 CE DIN TE M I L T K I NL V S A AT MTT HO E OLS E S EORR CS U REY H U HRAA EE S BRS TMTFPP TR S I

N

- S O E I U T S  :

• A:

S M S I E R S D Y U OE E S F E O K S N N - I I

) i:;!  !)  ! ,,! l1

O O , O 4 1 l PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN ISSUES - 1 l I 1 KEYISSUEI ~ l PERFORMANCE ISSUES QUESTIONS THAT ADDRESS WHETHER  ; 1.1 ---- THE MINED GEOLOGIC DISPOSAL 1.2 --- l SYSTEM PERFORMS IN COMPLIANCE j 1.3 -- 1.4 WITH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS i 1.6 ---- 1.7 --- 1.8 1.9 ---- i ESIGN ISSUES QUESTIONS THAT ADDRESS WHETHER THE DESIGN OF THE REPOSITORY, . , [, _~~ SEALS, AND WASTE PACKAGE i 1.12 SUPPORT COMPLIANCE WITH ) REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS l L l STATEDA.BRF/t-28.29 88 13  !

t i

    !        t                                                                                  ,

e

                                                        -                                                                          8n 8

9 2 8

                                                                                 -                                                2 N                                                                                                     l O                                                      _

5 / F R GH I B T d'- - AS '94 - A ONT - 1.- D ZM I [' - E T l I ' RA. -

                                                                   ~

4-A T ER - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - 4 ZWS S TG 01234567 I CO 2345678911111111 N M AR RP 1111111111111111 3333333333333333 - ASA A H 8888888888888888 GNR C = - ROG I - OTO AR NL P S AU E GNU S RI I EOS Y TIS HEAZ H N C TR HI G O I T 1 E E 2 E 4 OR E U O.

                        /A SMS E

U RD U S- - -- -- -- -- -- -- - --- --- --- --- S- ------- U S- - _ U S- - - o m

                                                                                                         - o o AST            SOE I

Y 123456789111 012 S-I 1

                                                                                            - _   S-l 1
                                                                                                         - o o ERKCR           SF INNE      E 111111111111 K

Y E2 K Y 4 E NAH K I I HILR T A ST H - EA UH C STE S L H I T EO - HO YT RN S TT 0 OE 0 6 1 9 TM 6 9 1 AE L R Rxx Rx Rx - F - - - - - - - Fx- - - . - -- -- --- -- eo UI x. - - - - - - - - F x _. . GU C 0.......- C x. . .

                                                                                            . . .   ..._              C x. _,

O EQ 0 . 0 6 06 1 RE 1 19 09 41 R

         ; i             ;!                                     l!jl!l; j;!l;                                   e'!i j{

O O O . i WHAT IS THE ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY?

                                                            ~

THE ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY IS THE METHODOLOGY USED TO ACHIEVE CLOSURE ON EACH OF THE ISSUES (QUESTIONS) IDENTIFIED IN THE ISSUE HIERARCHY BY: . e DEFINING THE ELEMENTS AND PROCESSES IMPORTANT TO _ t THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SITE AND ENGINEERED BARRIER . SYSTEMS - e IDENTIFYING THE INFORMATION REQUIRED TO RESOLVE THEISSUES e ORIENTING DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSES TO THE PROGRAM MISSION . j e h ESTABLISHING 'AN APPROACH FOR DOCUMENTING P- ~-

                                                                 . o .I              g AND CLOSING ISSUES                                                          !'

h STATEDA.BRF/1-28.29 88

O O o ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY e ISSUE IDENTIFICATION (DISCUSSED IN SCP) , I l v l l 2 L m { e PERI ORMANCE ALLOCATION "~~ j 3 (DESCRIBED IN DETAll IN SCP)

' ' 1 r l _

i

                                                                                     ~

\ l' ' J - u - ! 6 } e DATA COLLECTION AND " 7 ANALYSES [ -

                                                                                                    ,7 e

l 1 u 9 . e ISSUE RESOLUTION

                                                                                                ~

3 , iq  ; l' l' i j i r.

O O O l

i j ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY: i ISSUE IDENTIFICATION -

                                                                                              .                 l i

} I I l ll i i . L - _ _ -- __ d __ ;._ __.]i I i la - 1

6 IDENTIFY REGUI.ATORY '

i < DEVELOP SYSTEM l 3 I . DESCRIPTION I 1 f I & I 2 1 1 i DEFINE ISSUES

                    .         3 I               I j                      i               ,                       u                      ,r 3                             1 i

I 1 l j . , k7

o i { 1 { DEVELOP SYSTEM j DESCRIPTION A j - 0 j i e DEVELOP CONCEPTUAL SITE MODELS \ e IDENTIFY LEGIMATE ALTERNATE ' ! CONCEPTUAL MODELS . l e DEVELOP CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS l e DEFINE SYSTEM ELEMENTS FOR l EACH CONCEPTUAL MODEL 1 - ' i

                                                                                    - SITE ELEMENTS UNSATURATED ZONE i        ""*^02"'                                                                               [

i i SATURATED ZONE en!Inci'n'so". Ann en SYSTEM [ , WATEn TABLE d ~ i sArunArco ! zone - ENGINEERED BAR3lER . ELEMENTS  !' AIR GAP

                         ~                                                                                                           !

i CONTAINER  ! l WASTE FORM

                                                                                                              ,                      i i

STATEDA BRT/s 7:129 88 j 88 k - . . _ . _ . _ - _ _ _ - - - .

O ~O O ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY: ' I l PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ~

3 -

 ,                                       I                                                      i i                                                                                              I 3

I SET UCENSING STRATEGY

e i I L_ _ __ ____g--._

3 7 y I y 4 IDENTIFY INFORMATION Nffgj; _ 5l 6 IDENTIFY I I I PERFORMANCE MEASURES. - IDENTIFY PARAMETERS. SET I I 1 SET TENTATIVE "GOALS" AND - TENTATIVE GOALS *. AND SET , 3 SET lN01 CATIONS CF

                   ,                                                               y                              CONFIDENCE-                                                         *lNDICATIONS OF CONFIDENCE-                            :

a 1 f 6 - DEVELOP TESTING STRA1EGY IDENTIFY TESTS. VARIABLES. AND PARAMETERS TO BE MEASURED t e a , 19

O t O -

                                                      .,wlNa .::D

u. ..

I 3

;                  SET LlCENSING STRATEGY I

DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY APPROACH FOR CLOSING EACH ISSUE l DURING LICENSING BY:

• l .

j e DEFINING THE CRITICAL SYSTEM ELEMENTS-

                                                                               ~

j e IDENTIFYING THE IMPORTANT PROCESSES ' I e DEFINING THE EXPECTED AND DISRUPTIVE SCENARIOS - l e DEFINING THE SENSITIVITY OF THE SYSTEM ELEMENTS -  : i i e IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING LICENSING STRATE'GIES . i I STATEDA.BRF/t 28.29-88 i 20 i

O , O IDENTIFY PERFORMANCE MEASURES ' j SET TENTATIVE "GOALS" AND I SET "INDICATIONS OF CONFIDENCE" j - e PERFORMANCE MEASURE - BASIS OR STANDARD USED TO ASSESS THE PERFORMANCE j OF A SYSTEM ELEMENT ~ i e TENTATIVE GOAL i , l - IS A VALUE OR' LIMIT TOWARD WHICH THE El FORT IS ! DIRECTED .

                                                             ~

j - ARE PREDOMINANTLY CONSERVATIVELY SET WITH RESPECT TO REGULATORY LIMITS ( .l 1 SERVES AS A GUIDE FOR TESTING . i e "INDICATf 0NS QE CONFIDENCE" h

S JUDGEMENT OF ~ HOW WELL THE CURRENT VALUE WILL l BE CONFIRMED BY FUTURE MEASURMENTS j

STATEDA.BRF/8 28.29 88 l 21

O O O i P'ERFORMANCE GOALS ~ l 4 i l e PERFORMANCE GOALS ARE SE' TO ENSURE ENOUF ! INFORMATION IS OBTAINED SO THAT PERFORMANCE anJ - l SAFETY CAN BE DEMONSTRATED l , i ! e PERFORMANCE GOALS FOCUS THE TESTING PROGRAM ON j PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN ISSUES - l I e PERFORMANCE GOALS, SET WITH CARE, PROVIDE ADEQUATE i FLEXIBILITY TO ADDRESS ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS j AND WORKING HYPOTHESES , 1 -

                                                                                                                           .             5 j                                                                                   .

i i 22

O O O i EXAMPLE #1

PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION l

FOR ISSUE 1.1 e 1 . l 1 l WILL THE MINED GEOLOGIC DISPOSAL SYSTEM MEET T d l , SYSTEM PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE FOR LIMITING RADIONUCLIDE , l RELEASES TO THE ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT AS REQUIRED BY l 10 CFR, 60.112 AND 40 CFR 191.13? i l { i, i l - STATETH.BRF/l-28.29-88 23

o O O ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY: PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION l l t I SET LICENSING STRATEGY SELECT SYSTEM ELEMENTS. 3 l IDENTIFY FUNCTIONS PROCESSES. OR FEATURES  ! ! L . _ _ _ _. _J If I I_ 4 I IDENTIFY INFORMATION NESF-q , IDENTIFY i PERFORMANCE MEASURES, m IDENTIFY PARAMETERS. SET TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND - TENTATIVE "GOALS", AS" ' i i SET "INDICATIONS OF "INDICATIONS OF CONFIL. ^ 2" j CONFIDENCE" 2 l

f DEVELOP TEST BASIS. IDENTIFY  !'

j CHARACTERIZATION PARAMETERS, MAKE CURRENT ESTIMATE, STATE CONFIDENCE 1 IN ESTIMATE, SET INDICATIONS OF NEEDED COFIDENCE l l ) i I f , i -  !! j lI i i 24 i

O O O EPA STANDARD FOR RADIOACTIVE RELEASE ' TO THE ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT _ 4 l ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT \ - 1 I. RADIOACTIVE RELEASE [ *** l gs R dt MUST BE LESS THAN f* 14 (-g.ggy 6' ' THE SUM OF.- ! s -=

                                                                                                                                              ;                               ~

RADIONUCLIDE Ci/1000 *iiTrirdi j I g g _. - ~ ^ --  %

                                                                                                                                  .- ~      ..
                                                                                                                                            - s' l              /                                                                                                                        _-    '$

. [ 3 ,

                                                                                                                                .. __.___ ~4 A

i I

i 1 l! - 1 25 1

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CgMPLEMENTARY CUMULATIVO . DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION ( CCDF ) MODEL A SUMMED NORM ALIZED INPUT V Rt SLES  ;-

                                                                                                                                                             $lODEL B       =  MODEL C             u RELEASES TO ACCESSIBLE d                                                                          ENVIRONCENT

( INPUT d INPUT I INPUT

                                                                                                                                     .Y A RI A B L E S           VARIABLES           VARIABLES                    ,

i VAR AsLES FOR MODEL A i j l

• l 1

                                                                                                                                       -                                                              1-( ACCUMULATION OF j

3 PRO 8 ABILITIES OF j VAR AsLEs

• b ALL VA'_UES OF FOR MODEL 8 *

                                                 ,                                                                              _8                                                                              .

X6x ) f < _____,

                                                                                                                                                                              +A

)

                                                                                                                             -a l                                                                                                                                                                                       x                  I

[ l I i I } var:AstEs I [ SUMMED NORMALIZED RELE ASES x i FO2 MODEL C * . - X 4 i { i g i I 1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         !l 1   .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .               : l I

i t

                           ^

I. _ _ _ - . _ _ - _ _ . _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - . _ _ _ . - - - . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ - -- -w

   .1               11ll,    ,.       1l1,1,,,                                         ,:, , .i                                 ..l>i1                                              ,41              ;:                                                                                                ,     I'
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 >  +4 7
                                                                                                              .                                                                                                                                                                                                 2
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 .i.

c. ,-

s _ p

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ~
                                                                                                                                                                                                     . ..                                             f
                                                                                                                                                   .... ... .. ..~...                                                                ..         ... ..                                                            _

h.......,......c.:

                                                                                                                                                                                    . .....~..

Y.

                                                                                                                                                   ..... ...                                                ..                  ?                                                                                 _

7 [.

                                                                                                                                                 ..                        ~s.
                                                                                                                                            ................~..

E R ...

                                                                                                                                                                          . ...... ... .. nv.
                                                                                                                                               ...                                                                              :M.

u U ....~..

                                                                                                                                           -                                                                                          i S                                                                                                          ,-_                 -      .

N . .. ... ... .....,- O .... .......- D LM R .- . ..... U

                                                                                                                                                     ........ ... .. -M CE                                                         B R

u

                                                                                                                  ... E                    . ..........

TT E N . .. V . a

                                                                                                                  .. O .............                 .........                            ..
                                                                                                                                                     .........- .. E
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              .U                             =

SS O ... o.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              .*Y=. =m.:
                                                                                                              .. Z . . ......... .. T
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~      :0 Y

OY

                                                                                                            ~.
                                                                                                          .         .                . ..                                                                     .                                                      o R

O

                                                                                                            ~..... E                                                  .... D . ...... . .. .. S PS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    bs.

E T I

                                                                                                            ~....
                                                                                                            ~...  ..

B . .......... R kv. S - . ..... E

                                                                                                                                    . ..                  . .....                                                                                       x
                                                                                                            ~..
                                                                                                            ~. ... S.R                                   .............                                                          L . Mv.           ... ....... A R C                                                 .....

EY O I

                                                                                                 .....                 T A                      P                          .....

F ..... R. Y b . HR E ~ ... I - . . ... N: :

                                                                                                            ~....D                                   . ......                                      A
                                                                                                                                                                          ... ..BR R                       R               .......
                                                                                                                                                  ...                     ...                                                                     dn U                                                                           -

TO

                                                                                                                      . #.........                                                                                                                h=.

S .. D. N: ,.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        %n..

E b v. . FI T t-D .

                                                                                  ~j....            .

N .. .... ..

                                                                                                                                                                       .. .                      R.                                            .h:
                                                                                  ~.........1
                                                                                                                                                                       ....                      E                               N. bv                  s
                                                                                  ~..... ..~.

U .. .. .. . E. OS O R ....

                                                                         ...      ~.......~.....
                                                                                    . ..... F..
                                                                                                                                                                            ..- ... N
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                .N h=             b. v u

O G R. .

                                                                                                                                                                     .... .. I....    -
                                                                                                                                                                                                         .. G                                     k=
                                                                                                .  .. O                                              /...
                                                                                                                                                                     .... .. N h e.

SP ..... E . .. . m .. T. . . ....- T......

                                                                                              ..... O.. W
                                                                                      . ... N A                         -
                                                                                                                                                                     ... .. . .E..                                                                  I.

TE S N Nv I N~.

                                                          ......                                          I
                                                          ...... U.
                                                       ....... O E . ...

I N R ....... E M....AD.. b= E . .... ... OU..

                                                 .........     .... S V.....LN.

S v. E i..

                                                   .........         A                                                                                       .. .                            .....                                                                                          .;,

O .. . CO .. / b= N:. ,

                                                         ......      G M......                   .... . R R. ..
                                                  ~             ...                                                     -            .                       .       ...                                                                                                   .b               :...

M _

                                                                                                                                                      /

EG... P .

                                                                                                                                                                                                 ..                                   g E:v. ,

v o v. s E 7....

                                                                                                                                                                                             .. ..                                                                       X L                                         ........

S... E O.

                                                                                                                                            .. . ....... L
                                                                         ........................AR..
                                                               .....                                                                                         . .                                                                                                               ?
                                                                                                                                                                 ...RE.
                                                                                                                     . . .......... I..
                                                                   ..                                                                                        .....                            R.                                                                                l
                                                                        .... .........                         D . ... ..........
                                                                                    ........ E
                                                                                    ........ T .. ..
                                                                                                                                             ...         ......TARA.r.
                                                                                  .....                                          S.           .........
                                                                                                                                                                                                             .                          .         Iy
                                                                                  . .........R A T........                              ..
                                                                                                                                                             .... N.......B.....                             .

KS.o. L J

                                                                                  ..........                      U C           I ..
                                                                                                                                                      ...                                ..   .. . . , . . L       .

C T :. I

                                                                                  ..........                      T   O N.                            ...            .                                                 U                 .

ON; _ A..........R. . U. ...

                                                                                                                                                                              ........                                                          . CHU=.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ...               . . n.
                                                                                    ........                 S.                                             .

N _ U i i 1, ,.4, .,4: . ,4 ,,.i-;:  ;.4!,I;i;!II (;,s!t$ Yls

o o y PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION FOR "NOMINAL AND . "DISTURBED" CASES . . ISSUE 1.1 LIMITING RADIONUCLIDE RELEASE TO ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT i * '-

i 4

1 j' NOMINAL DISTURBED DISTtJRBED DISTUP9ED CASE CASE CASE CASE , (CLASS #11 lCL/SS #2) (CLASS #7) b i I I WATER GAS

• i PATl!WAY PATHWAY

COMPLETE COMPLETE COMPLETE COMPLETE PERFORMANCE COMPLETE I PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE

{ ALLOCATION ALLOCATION ALLOCATION ALLOCATION ALLOCAllON

'                                                                                                                                                                              .i 3

STATETHi-10/2/87-VA 4 4 i

O O O ELEMENTS AND FEATURES TO BE RELIED ON

                                                                                                            ~

ELEMENT FEATURE TO_ BE RELIED ON l UNSATURATED ROCK UNITS SMALL AMOUNT OF GROUND .

l WATER l . ) LONG AVERAGE TRANSPORT TIME IN GRQ_UND WATIER CONFINEMENT OF WATER TO l ROCK MATRIX i { GEOCHEMICAL RETARDATION l 1 SATURATED ROCK UNITS FLOW TIME TO ACCES'SIBLE (BACKUP BARRIER) ENVIRONMENT j GEOCHEMICAL RETARDATION

ENGINE.ERED-BARRIER SYSTEM LIMITED RATE OF RELEASE OF ,

j (BACKUP BARRIER) RADIONUCLIDES i . , . 6TATETif.80F/I 28.29 88 28 I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _

O O O ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY:

     ~

PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION l i SET LICENSING STRATEGY, SELECT SYSTEM ELEMENTS, 3i l IDENTIFY FUNCTIONS, PROCESSES, OR FEATURES i I ,i ' ' ~1 f~ I f N '

        /                             4      x                   IDENTIFY INFORMATION NEEDS:    5 IDENTIFY j
      /      PERFORMAN~CE MEASURES, g

m IDENTIFY PARAMETERS SET 1 SET TENTATIVE "GOALS", At3D f TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND SET

i SET "INDICATIONS OF

' "INDICATIONS OF CONFIDENCE" l CONFIDENCE" / ! N / - . ! x / j --

                                    -                                          if i

1 DEVELOP TEST BASIS, IDENTIFY CHARACTERIZATION PARAMETERS, MAKE i CURRENT ESTIMATE, STATE C'ONFIDENCE j . IN ESTIMATE, SET INDICATIONS OF

;                                                                      NEEDED COFIDENCE i                                                                              1r                        !
;                                                                                           -            t l

i

                                                                       ~

29

O PERFORMANC$ MEASURE FOR ~ TOTAL SYSTEM . l _ __ _ _ _ ALLOWED RELEASE , i i j RADIONUCLIDE RADIONUCLIDE RAD 10NUCLfDE j ^ B C i 3 l - 4  ; CALCULATED RELEASE AT ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT

M ,

i i ALLOWABLE RELEASE DEFINED BY EPA STANDARD i 30 4

O O O EXAMPLE PERFORMANCE MEASUREc FOR NOMINAL CASE l PERFORMANCE TENTATIVE NEEDED PATHWAY , SYSTEM ELEMENTS FUNCTION / PROCESS MEASURE GOAL C,0NFIDENCE ! WATER UNSATURATED ZONE LIMIT RADIONUCLIDE ! MLCULATED RELEASE <.01 Hip,H ROCK UNITS TRANSPORT EPA- STANDARD i , ENGINEERED BARRIER - j SYSTEM *

SATURATED ROCK UNITS * -

GAS ENGINEERED BARRIER LIMIT RELEASE OF 4 i CALCULATED RELEASE < 0.2 ' MEDIUM SYSTEM CARBON-14 EPK STANDARD-1 I l' OVERBURDEN * ' - i { s l

• SECONDARY BARRIER
• i '

ji } j . . i . I i

                                                                                           ~

31

 ]                                              _

                                                                                                ~

l O O O l ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY: ' l PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION

                                                                                                   ~

I SET LICENSING STRATEGY, SELECT SYSTEM ELEMENTS, 3 IDENTIFY FUNCTIONS, PROCESSES, OR FEATURES j i

                                                    -      ~

if f lf 7 I 4 IDENTIFY INFORMATION NEEDS: 5 - ! l IDENTIFY  ! ' ! PERFORMANCE MEASURES, _ IDENTIFY PARAMETERS, !H [' ! SET TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND r TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND SET SET "INDICATIONS OF l CONFIDENCE" "INDICATIONS OF CONFIDENCE- l l * ! I 1 _ _ _ _J 1 DEVELOP TEST BASIS, IDENTIFY s. CilARACTERIZATION PARAMETERS, MAKE ' CURRENT ESTIMATE, STATE CONFIDENCE IN ESTIMATE, SET INDICATIONS OF ) . NEEDED COFIDENCE I I I I

                                                                                                                     -l s

3?

o i G O l EXAMPLE INFORMATION NEEDS FOR i

                           ~
                   ~

NOMINAL CASE '

(WATER PATHWAY) ,-

                                                                                                           .: :ut ~~ ~~~.

J' \ r . . PERFORMANCE TENTATIVE ~iE:EL t lilc~._y SYSTEM ELEMENT PARAMETER GOAL '" C' E e l UNSATURATED ZONE (UZ) AVERAGE FLUX <0.5mm/YR HIGH

(PRIMARY BARRIER) i i

j AVERAGE EFFECTIVE > 0.1 HIGH i MATRIX POROSITY l - i - AVERAGE CHEMICAL >1 HIGH 3 RETARDATION FACTOR i FOR im SPECIES f . AVERAGE THICKNESS >100m HIGH j BETWEEN REPOSITORY ' AND WATER TABLE - t j . . j  : SATURATED ZONE (SZ) AVERAGE FLUX <32mm/YR . MEulUM j (BACKUP BARRIER) * ' l, 3 AVERAGE LENGTH OF >5000m MEDIUM - [ FLOW PATH i ) ENGINEERED-BARRIER

                         ~   FRACTIONAL MASS                         <104                                 MEDIUM
;  SYSTEM (BACKUP             RELEASE RATE FOR j  BARRIER)                   EACH SPECIES l

O O O ISSUE RESOLUTION STRATEGY: I. PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION 4 ! SET LICENSING STRATEGY, SELECT SYSTEM ELEMENTS. ' I IDENTIFY FUNCTIONS, PROCESSES, OR FEATURES  ; If II l > 4 ~

    .                                                             IDENTIFY INFORMATION NEEDsf IDENTIFY                                                                                              .

! PERFORMANCE MEASURES, i , m j SET TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND [ - IDENTIFY PARAMETERS. SET SET "INDICATIONS OF TENTATIVE "GOALS", AND SET l CONFIDENCE" "INDICATIONS OF CONFIDENCE" g' .i I-I ' I f- T. ~ ~j j l g DEVELOP TEST BASIS. IDENTIFY e i

                                                      '                                                            l CHARACTERIZATION PARAMETERS, MAKE i

} l l CURRENT ESTIMATE STATE CONFIDENCE IN ESTIMATE, SET INDICATIONS OF l' !. NEEDED COFIDENCE

L -

i . 1r u } !l ! 'l 34 l

l O + + _r._ ._ t . .

                                                                           *             *

• _ + +

am  ;

                                                                                                                           >                                  n      i 9                             w'                        i         *N

l. Z. 08 a es ".6-lr ,

15 e

                                                                                                       @.J N
                                                                                                       =   wd        $a                           j     ;              U 3              3%                  U"E                    OO
                           <g                               , .; y h             EE                                    4     l (4             .a             .J C O a 1                    10                 s y                                             }e                                        !

OE - i , i I '" i .i , i m " h EE 3 .s. .U. P O0 Z Ug 3 2 so h$ 0 8ma 0!8 E99 OQ !u 93 85 E20h

                                        ;2 erg E90        =t Ow85 858E I        I
   >E    y J     "E Esd9' D  y E

3g enEE

j=jje8 4

                                                                                                                                               ;~82 E

3 as 0 E O> i , i o JG .

                                                                                                     .e OO                                Beh
                                                                                                                            =

ma ar gm  ! sis

he.

Q **!ee

                                     $N3C, I8                                                "'058 O>Oc I Q

9'

                                                     ~                                              j Zy2
                                                                                                    !!8" g>    m d

i w i Ze' *O 5 s r0 OW I 43 IQd NU

                                                                           $3 wod OU 73 cod C                                                                          !                                                           !

o p  : s wW " i HI '

   <>                                                                          i i

C a "3 $! H !S 4 EE W u Z  ; W  !

o O - O .

                                              .              .   )
                 =

5 EXAMPLE OF TEST BASIS DEVELOPMENT e DEFINITION OF PARAMETER CATEGORIES i e DEFINITION OF ACTIVITY PARAMETERS 8 e

O O O - UNSATURATED ZONE - TEST BASIS . PARAMETER CATEGORIES . TRANSMISSIVE ' STORAGE ' DISPERSIVE

                                                                                               ~

i FLUID CHEMISTRY AND TEMPERATURE ' FLUID FLOW FLUID AND THERMAL POTENTIAL I MOISTURE CONDITIONS SYNTHESIS CHARACTERISTICS .

 ~

e

                                                            ~

O ACTIVITY PARAMETER TRACKED INTO APPROPRIATE STUDY ~

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ~

8.3.1.2.2.4 STUDY:

                                                                                                                                                             '                       CHARACTERIZATION OF YUCCA MOUNTAIN PERCOLATION IN THE                                                                                                             .

UNSATURATED ZONE--EXPLORATORY SHAFT FACILITY STUDY ! 8.3.1.2.2.4.1 - ACTIVITY:

INTACT FRACTURE TEST IN THE ~

ESF 8.3.1.2.2.4.2 ACTIVITY: INFILTRATION TESTS IN THE ESF ACTIVITY PARAMETER SCP . AChlVITY . FLUX, VOLUMETRIC THROUGH. 8.3.1.2.2.4.2 FRACTURE / MATRIX NETWORKS j0h

O O O PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS FOR' - NOMINAL CASE SCENARIO PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE TENTATIVE MEASUHE PARAMETER l PARAMETER GOAL j UNSATURATED AVERAGE FLUX ~

                                                                                                                                       < 0.5MM/YR ZONE BARRIER I

AVERAGE EFFECTIVE > 0.1 l MATRIX POROSITY l . . ,I

                  ' AVERAGE RETARDATION                                                                                                     >1         I

) ! FACTOR (EACH SPECIES) ' AVERAGE THICKNESS > 100M j BETWEEN REPOSITORY AND WATER TABLE , i - , )  :

                                                                                                                                                              .             .         .f:

J ]  !! 1 . , l  ! j l!

                                                                                                                                                                1.. J/28/1988

O O O

    .          RELATIONSHIP OF GOALS TO LICENSING l               STRATEGY FOR ESTIMATES OF RELEASE l

4 . G WTT = D = D V F/O - \ - l 100 m ~ 0.5x10-3 m/yr + 0.1 ~ i 1

                                          =                            20,000 yr i

l RETARDATION j assumption R B1 Vr y* .

                                                                                       - V, R

actually R >1 for many nuclides Vr<V, i 4 \

O VARIATION IN SITE kRFORMANCE WITH VARY G SITE AND PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS D= 100 m l

                  -3 F=0.5x10    m/y
                                      - EP A LIMIT i         O = 0.1

• EBS=10 -4 R=1 l

l i i i w

u) -

4 i W EBS=10 -5

w R=1

=

EBS=10 -4

                                                     ~

j R>1 l l b

i.  :

4 ) 0 20000 4oooo TIME - I

                                                 ~

O O , O e - PERFORMANCE GOALS ARE INTNNDED ~ TO BE CONSERVATIVE _

                                                                                      ~

HYDROGEOLOGIC ALLOCATION 4 COMPONONENTS OF AVAILABLE RELIANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE NEED PROCESS MEASURE GOAL (YR) CONRDENCE TSw SECONDARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT LW 10,000 VERY LOW CHnv PRIMARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT HIGH 10,000 LOW CHnz PRIMARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT HIGH 10,000 LOW PPw AUXILIARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW MED;UM GWTT 10,000 VERY LOW PPn AUXILIARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT MEDIUM 10,000 LOW BFw AUXILIARY DARCIAN

                                           ~

GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT MEDIUng 10,000 VERY LOW BFn AUXILIARY DARCIAN GWTT 1,000 FLOW GWTT . MEDIUM 10,000 VERY LOW l

                                                                                               ,j SATURATED      SECONDARY    DARCIAN                                                       t1 ZONE                                     GWIT        1,000      LOW FLOW            GWTT      10,000       VERY LOW        -

ll COMBINATION OF ALL UNITS GWTT 1,000

                                              , GWTT                    VERY HIGH 10,000       HIGH 4

k l' NRC STAFF PRESENTATION TO THE O ACNW

SUBJECT:

RULEMAKING: STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IN NRC APPROVED STORAGE CASKS AT NUCLEAR POWER REACTOR SITES DATE: JUNE 28, 1988 l l PRESENTER: LELAND C ROUSE JOHN P. ROBERTS PRESENTER'S TITLE / BRANCH DIV.: BRANCH CHIEF / FUEL CYCLE SAFETY BRANCH /IMNS SECTION LEADER /lRRADIATED FUEL STORAGE SECTION/IMSB/IMNS 1 PRESENTER'S NRC TEL NO.: 49-23328 49-20608 SUBCOMMITTEE: O TO BE USED ALL PRESENTATIONS TO THE ACNW 8Y NRC EMPLOYEES

T O O o NRC STitFF PRESENTATION TO THE ACNW

SUBJECT:

RULEMAKING: STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IN NRC APPROVED STORAGE CASKS AT NUCLEAR POWER REACTOR SITES DATE: JUNE 28, 1988 PRESENTER: LELAND C. ROUSE JOHN P. ROBERTS PRESENTER'S TITLE / BRANCH DIV.: BRANCH CHIEF / FUEL CYCLE SAFETY BRANCH /IMNS SECTION LEADER /IRRADI ATED FUEL STORAGE SECTION IMSB/IMNS PRESENTER'S NRC TEL. No.: 49-23328 49-20608 SUBCOMMITTEE: TO BE USED ALL PRESENTATIONS TO THE ACNW BY NRC EMPLOYEES

i . l l O O O i i , i l 4 PURPOSE OF RULEMAKING 1 i j APPROVE DRY STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL IN CASKS 4 ESTABLISH PROCEDURES FOR STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL AT REACTOR SITES WITHOUT HEED FOR ADDITIONAL SITE - i SPECIFIC APPROVALS I i i I s l l s

   ~

u_______________ ___ _ _._.____._.__ _ _ _ _ ___.._____....._ _ _. _ __ _ _ __ . _ _ . . _ .

                                                            . . _   = _ _ . - .
                                                                                   . (:

O O O-i l

i j JUSTIFICATION FOR RULEMAKING

PROVIDEs GREATER EFFICIENCY Itt LICEtlSING flANDATED BY THE CONGRESS l (NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACT OF 1982 SECTIONS 133 AND 218(A))

i 1 1 i i l ( s

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        . v    l

O O O i

i l j i i i HOW RULE WILL ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE i ( j PROVIDE FOR CERTIFICATION OF DRY SPENT FUEL STORAGE CASK DESIGNS .! 3 ' ' PROVIDE GENERAL LICENSE To HOLDERS OF A POWER REACTOR OPERATING. LICENSE TO USE CERTIFIED CASKS l L t _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . _ . . . _ . _ _ _ _ . ~ . _ _ . . . . . - . . . _ . _ . . . . . . . _ . . . _ . . . . _ . - . .

O O O CONDITION OF GEfiERAL LICENSE FOR STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL LIMITED TO SPENT FUEL GENERATED AT THE SITE SPENT FUEL STORAGE ONLY IN STORAGE CASKS CERTIFIED BY NRC LICENSEE MUST SHOW:

  .         COMPLIANCE W'TH CONDITIONS OF CASK CERTIFICATE NO UNREVIEWED SAFETY QUESTION INVOLVED NO TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION CHANGES REQUIRED (OR LICEhSE AMENDMENT OBTAINED)

SPECIAL NUCLEAR hATERIAL ACCREDITING AND SAFEGUARDS REPORTING AND RECORDKEEPING TERMINATION OF GENERAL LICENSE i

!          . CONTINUE STORAGE UNDER AS AMENDED PART S0 LICENSE I

li SPENT FUEL REMOVAL FROM SITE PRIOR TO REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING COMPLETION i i e

O O :o SPENT FUEL CASK CERTIFICATION PROCESS FORMALIZES PRESENT TOPICAL REPORT CASK DESIGN SAFETY - REVIE'1 ACTIONS PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA BASED ON STAFF EXPERIENCE SPECIFIC LICENSES ISSUED

                                                                        ~

PREVIOUSLY APPROVED CASx DESIGN CERTIFICATION OF CASK DESIGNS IN RULEMAKING QUAL ITY ASSURAliCE %ND FABRICATION INSPECTION CONDITIONS FOR CASK CERTIFICATION

l O NRC STAFF PRESENTATION TO THE l ACNW 1

SUBJECT:

RULEMAKING: STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IN NRC APPROVED STORAGE CASKS AT NUCLEAR POWER REACTOR SITES DATE: JUNE 28, 1988 PRESENTER: LELAND C. ROUSE JOHN P ROBERTS O 1 PRESENTER'S TITLE / BRANCH DIV.: BRANCH CHIEF / FUEL CYCLE SAFETY BRANCH /IMNS SECTION LEADER /lRRADit.TED FUEL STORAGE SECTION/IMSB/IMNS 1 PRESENTER'S NRC TEL NO.: 49-23328 49-20608 - SUBCOMMITTEE: O TO BE USED ALL PRESENTATIONS TO THE ACNW BY NRC F.MPLOYEES

 ,       O                                       O                                                                                                                                                                         o 4

NRC STAFF PRESENTATION TO THE ACNW

SUBJECT:

RULENAKING: STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IN NRC APPROVED STORAGE CASKS AT NUCLEAR

-                         POWER REACTOR SITES DATE:          JUNE 28, 1988 i

j PRESENTER: LELAND C. ROUSE j JOHN P. ROBERTS i 1 l PRESENTER'S TITLE / BRANCH DIV.: BRANCH CHIEF / FUEL CYCLE SAFETY BRANCH /IMNS i SECTION LEADER / IRRADIATED FUEL STORAGE SECTION i IMSB/IMNS i PRESENTER'S NRC TEL. No.: 49-23328 ); 49-20608 i SUBr0MMITTEE: t i i 1 TO BE USED ALL PRESENTATIONS TO THE ACNW BY NRC EMPLOYEES i 4

                                                  .                       .             m                                _       m   .                                       .     . _-

O O O

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ?

t PURPOSE OF RULEMAKING APPROVE DRY STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL IN CASKS , ESTABLISH PROCEDURES FOR STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL - AT REACTOR SITES WITHOUT HEED F0k ADDITIONAL SITE - SPECIFIC APPROVALS f t i t

                                                                                                                                                                                                           'l

-- ____-_-a w*-_ ____-mw- e wo w4.www, w wm a.m wwes w e + -m i w e aw,- ww .m ,,e a t m.--s m. weinw-9-.%,,, m,.,eM*m- e eT us -twwm vumw e c wwe w'sww -ww a m s--, . w- A

o o o j s i JUSTIFICATION FOR RULEMAKING l PROVIDEs GREATER EFFICIENCY Ita LICEFASING MANDATED BY THE CONGRESS t (NUCLEAR WACTE POLICY ACT OF 1982 SECTIONS 133 Af1D 218(A)) .;

                                                                          'I
                                                                          .I
                                                                            .1

4 i.

                                                                        -l 4
                                                                        .t

                                                                                                                                                                                                          .    . y

! O O -o  ; i i a i 1 1 i I ! HOW RULE WILL ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE . t i PROVIDE FOR CERTIFICATION OF DRY SPENT FUEL STORAGE CASK DESIGNS PROVIDE GENERAL LICENSE TO HOLDERS OF A POWER REACTOR OPERATING LICEllSE TO USE CERTIFIED CASKS  ; I l l 1 A N i 9 _ _ _ _ _ . _ . _ . _ _ _ _ . _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . - ______-_-_____-___+_____m_ , _ __ _

b O O O CONDITION OF GENERAL LICENSE FOR STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL LIMITED TO SPENT FUEL GENERATED AT THE SITE l SPENT FUEL STORAGE ONLY IN STORAGE CASKS CERTIFIED BY NRC ! LICENSEE MUST SHOW:

         .                                                     COMPLIANCE WITH CONDITIONS OF CASK CERTIFICATE NO UNREVIEWED SAFETY QUESTION INVOLVED 4

No TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION CHANGES REQUIRED l (OR LICENSE AMENDNENT OBTAINED) 4

.                                                        SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCREDITING AND SAFEGUARDS REPORTING AND RECORDKEEPING TERMINATION OF GENERAL LICENSE i

CONTINUE STORAGE UNDER AS AMENDED PART 50 LICENSE I SPENT FUEL REMOVAL FROM SITE PRIOR TO REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING COMPLETION { i i

                                                                . . _ . _ . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . _ _ . . . _ . . _ . ~ . . _ . . . _ , .   . . ._, . . . . _ , . ._..__

m

                                                              .       l O                                       O                    O SPENT FUEL CASK CERTIFICATION PROCESS
                                                                  ~

FORMALIZES PRESENT TOPICAL REPORT CASK DESIGH SAFETY REVIEW ACTIONS PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA BASED ON STAFF EXPERIENCE SPF"IFIC LICENSES ISSUED PRE ^.'l'JUSLY APPROVED CASK DESIGN CERTIFICATION OF CASK DESIGNS'IN RULEMAKING QUALITY ASSURANCE AND FABRICATION INSPECTION CONDITIONS FOR CASK ~ CERTIFICATION

9 O ADVISORY. COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE , F (BRIEFFORMEETINGONJUNE 28,1988) PROPOSED RULE ON STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL IN CASKS AT POWER REACTOR SITES The Commission is proposing to amend its regulations in 10 CFR Part 72 to  ; provide for the storage of spent fuel at the sites of power reactors without, , to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional site-specific approvals, as required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Holders of power reactor operating licenses would be pertnitted to store spent fuel in casks certified by NRC under a general license. The proposed rule is mainly administrative in nature. It would provide procedures by which cask vendors- l could obtain certificates for spent fuel casks and power reactor licensees could  ! store spent fuel without additional site-specific epproval by the Comission. O the proposed ruie would provide for power reector 11ceasees to store sneat fuel at the reactor sita without additu;nal site-specific approvals by the Comission. A general license would be issued to holders of power reactor licenses for the storage of spent fuel generated at the site in casks approved  ; by the NRC. The license w"'1d hcVe to show that there were no changes , required in the rea'. tor technical specifications or unreviewed safety questions l as regards activities related to spent fuel storage under the general license. The licensee would also have to show compliance with conditions of the storage cask Certificate of Compliance, including demonstrating that site-related  ; parameters (e.g., earthouake intensity, ambient temperatures) and equipment design bases are within the envelop of parameters analyzed in the cask safety analysis report. The licensee would also have to show compliance with special nuclear material control and accounting and safeguards procedures and conditions that are being proposed for storage of spent fuel in an independent spent fuel installation located within the exclusion area of a nuclear power - reactor. The licensee would have to establish and maintcin records documenting compliance, which would have to made available for inspection by the l

Conini ssion. The Commission would rely on its inspection and enforcement O euthority to easure thet its resuletions were met and, thes, ensure edeauate protection of public health and safety. The Commission would rely on dry storage casks for confinement of radioactive material to the extent required for protection of public health and safety and the environment. The cask would be relied on to provide safe confinement indbpendent of the operations in which it is involved or regardless of its location, so long as conditions are within the limits specified in the Certificate of Compliance. Cask vendors would submit a safety analysis report (SAR) showing how cask designs and fabrication can provide adequate protection to public health and safety. The NRC staff would review and analyze the SAR and certify that a particular cask, when designed, fabricated, and used under the conditions analyzed, provides adequate protection to public health and safety. Part of the cask certification procedure would be for the NRC to ensure, through acceptance of a quality assurance program and inspections, that casks are designed, fabricated, tested, maintained, and modified under the acceptance criteria in the rule. The certification program would be similar to O that now conducted for casks approved for shipping spent fuel under 10 CFR Part

71. The proposed rule would set forth criteria for obtaining spent fuel storage cask certification. Three cask would be listed in the proposed rule as being certified for storage of spent fuel under the general license. Other casks would be routinely added, through appropriate rulemaking procedures, as they receive certification.

l O 2

e ADVISORY. COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE l (BRIEF FOR MEETING ON JUNE 28,1988) PROPOSED RULE ON STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL IN CASKS AT POWER REACTOR SITES The Commission is proposing to amend its regulations in 10 CFR Part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel at the sites of power reactors without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional site-specific approvals, as required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Holders of power reactor operating licenses would be pennitted to store spent fuel in casks certified by NRC under a general license. The proposed rule is mainly administrative in nature. It would provide procedures by which cask vendors could obtain certificates for spent fuel casks and power reactor licensees could store spent fuel without additional site-specific approval by the Comission. O The proposed rule would provide for power reactor licensees to store spent fuel at the reactor sita without additional site-specific approvals by the Commission. A general license would be issued to holders of power reactor licenses for the storage of spent fuel generated at the site in casks approved by the NRC. The licensee would have to show that there were no changes require'd in the reactor technical specifications or unreviewed safety questions as regards activities related to spent fuel storage under the general license. The licensee would also have to show compliance with conditions of the storage cask Certificate of Compliance, including demonstrating that site-related parameters (e.g., earthouake intens:ty, ambient teraperatures) and equipment design bases are within the envelop of parameters analyzed in the cask safety I analysis report. The licensee would also have to show compliance with special nuclear inaterial control and accounting and safeguards procedures and  ! conditions that are being proposed for storage of spent fuel in an independent I spent fuel installation located within the exclusion area of a nuclear power reactor. The licensee would have to establich and maintain records documenting compliance, which would have to made available for inspection by the

j Commission. The Commission would rely on its inspection and enforcement 7-V authority to ensure that its regulations were met and, thus, ensure adequate protection of public health and safety. The Comission would rely on dry storage casks for confinement of radioactive material to the extent required for protection of public health and safety and the environment. The cask would i>e relied on to provide safe confinement independent of the operations in which it is involved or regardless of its location, so long as conditions are within the limits specified in the Certificate of Compliance. Cask vendors would submit a safety analysis report (SAR) showing how cask designs and fabrication can provide adequate protection to public health and safety. The NRC staff would review and analyze the SAR l and certify that a particular cask, when designed, fabricated, and used under the conditions analyzed, provides adequate protection to public health and safety. Part of the cask certification procedure would be for the NRC to ensure, through acceptance of a quality assurance program and inspections, that ' casks are designed, fabricated, tested, maintained, and modified under the acceptance criteria in the rule. The certification program would be similar to that now conducted for casks approved for shipping spent fuel under 10 CFR Part l

71. The proposed rule would set forth criteria for obtaining spent fuel storage cask certification. Three cask would be listed in the proposed rule as i being certified for storage of spent fuel under the general license. Other casks would be routinely added, through appropriate rulemaking procedures, as l I

they receive certification. O r 2

                                                 -                                ~

                                                                                           ~

1 l

  '. 8 I  E             (

t r.

          . ..               L La c. n c                                                                           ;l+Nf.:   .

I4 Pet 71 . _::q. he b.o Wa.k.

                                $    b ee s Scu,. d      fsw$, Mj ,                 1
                                                                                                    , c'.c ve z ,

c r. o . . .., c6d tim. 4 c M c.J .s , C 6 , c: W l Mbk g cce (e es c8 R c d n. c'e h (. v.h, < 42,n h c., J 7v A#c b e.<sp

g. Ev L a,- r,. A m f ~, , L , wk<,tw '

Cw(.se,.4,s 6 v .- c t., , ( .c.y &o l

                'Tc~,.4gc.,{<.%

w e+ . 5 pw.6 c, -fl a c.< ,,, y A c.,

                                                                                                      . T%                   l I?se ~l                sk s, r ./t , ca h49.<~ S                          ,

w (L c,rLJ uw .s w I 1 k v.- .ke c . sc. L Ae / ' d +' .. . , e. < M . k. i,., e. s csc. u, f% O , [_<cg %J /2-.> 6 s. ~ . w d a-:( nll 4 e-> ud, k ko D sA &

                                    \    en em      C. e w b,. Y 4 Le > , W (v            NJ c . <   cl e . w-      $4     f l

Md Ls,Th O MQq% k Ls %s Y L,aq h, Ut C r-k' e d O c. e w N.% 4 L o.G L wu b a t< 4a.7 , p+t6_.,m 7 u- w ch Le of s eu . Vd 1% <p

                                                                                .L fM m , 76 s (5L.<~cm q                          Lv         .

e %y~  % ass em 66m

                                                                                                            -%             a Th el CLM4                                ks2 o       e L ~ <.,
                              .Aok         <.i     c~e        %)

O w td i l I y . .. .=-

            -                            - 2     -                                                           ;

i f

                                                                                               . .' 4 :-

cx.1 1+G,9 % acu .aaa L k #,1  ! V) J M 4ty L 1 Vw 't M ' 10 +1 ss , N 17t2, ~ J k I& gm , k & M $ $% I s

                                                                                      #                      i J

i O j i I i i i e I a e O

O . s wm ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE ~ $,.t u (BRIEF FOR MEETING ON JUNE 28,1988) PROPOSEDRUI,3ONST0"AGEOFSPENTFUELINCASKSATPOWERREAC10RSITES The Commission is proposing to amend its regulations in 10 CFR Part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel at the sites of power reactors without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional site-specific approvals, as required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Holders of power reactor operating licenses would be F:nnitted to store spent fuel in casks certified by NRC under a general license. The proposed rule is mainly I administrative in nature. It would provide procedures by which cask vendors could obtain certificates for spent fuel casks and power reactor licensees could store spent fuel without additional site-specific approval by the Comission. i O The proposed rule would provide for power reactor licensees to store spent fuel at the reactor sita without additional site-specific approvals by the Comission. A general license would be issued to holders of power reactor licenses for the storage of spent fuel generated at the site in casks approved by the NRC. The licensee would have to show that there wera no changes required in the reactor technical specifications or unreviewed safety questions as regards activities related to spent fuel storage under the general license. The licensee would also have to show compliance with conditions of the storage cesk Certificate of Compliance, including demonstrating that site-related parameters (e.g.,earthouakeintensity,ambienttemperatures)andequipment design bases are within the envelop of parameters analyzed in the cask safety analysis report. The licensee would also have to show compliance with special nuclear material control and accounting and safeguards procedures and ,. conditions that are being proposed for storage of spent fuel in an independent spent fuel installation located within the exclusion area of a nuclear power reactor. The licensee world have to establish and maintain records documenting O compiiance hich would have to made avaiiable for inspection by the u .-- -_ _ __ _ _

l o. Comission. The Commission would rely on its inspection and enforcement authority to ensure that its regulations were met and, thus, ensure adequate protection of public health and safety. ^?

                                                                                                    ., q :

The Comission would rely on dry storage casks for confinement of '$ radioactive material to the extent required for protection of public health and safety and the environment. The cask would be relied on to provide safe confinement indi' pendent of the operations in which it is involved or regardless of its location, so long as conditions are within the limits specified in the Certificate of Compliance. Cask vendors would submit a safety analysis report (SAR) showing how cask designs and fabrication can provide adequate protection to public health and safety. The NRC staff would_ review and analyze the 3 R

 /g f and. certify that a particular cask, when designed.,f_ahrica.tej[and_ used under U       the condi.tj ons , analyzed. .p.royJ.deudequ. ale..ptote.ct.io.n._to. publiq_ healt). Land t safety m Part of the cask certification procedure would be for the NRC to ensure, through acceptance of a quality assurance program and inspections, that casks are designed, fabricated, tested, maintained, and modified under the acceptance criteria in the rule. The certification program would be similar to that now conducted for casks approved for shipping spent fuel under 10 CFR Part

71. The proposed rule would set forth criteria for obtaining spent fuel storage cask certification. Three cask would be listed in the proposed rule as being certified for storage of spent fuel under the general license. Other casks would be routinely added, through appropriate rulemaking procedures, as they receive certification.

         \(    Do tw~h ey r ( t-< & d r, k , h's                        1 % dwk a Q
                 % , v n .c J          L4 b us .tl.,/       %A fo, s 1 (u 6 u ,a ~ c ~                    e e.)          ~,s       m m as a d- m M M ,

z . A qp <e v a.t &s% w (n ( wL k w p A t Lt ) h

                 &J G              L, Tew (s14 av Cce{& c k Ro w 4 .

M r.vd 6 sS-w % ceL Ws G 4 , w.c % k . c q L u ns.r. n &4 Os. ms = w- .o

                          ,,-             %u _ A         w b      w+
                                                                        .u,
                                                                                   ,, s     .an 6 pee A~           b e 6 ,. %          ,

7 -  ?? W' N

l O O O i . WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION SECRETARY OF ENERGY OPERATIONS HQ TECHNICAL OFFICE CRM SUPPORT SERVICES

                                                         .          CONTRACTORS l

I PROJECT pp --___-_____3 , FROGRAM DIRECTION - - - - - l ons-ooosos snuse WL

O O O OFFICE OF CIVILIAN RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

               ~

DIP.ECTOR Charles E. Kay (Acting) - DEPUTY Charles E. Kay Richard T. Nelson.* Congressional Liaisen D?fice of Quahty Assurance (Vacant) l I I I Dfc. cf Program Administration Dfc. of faci!! ties Sitirg Ofc. of Systems Integration Ofc. et External Relations I Development & Regulations & Policy

                       & Resources Management Stephen H. Kale (Acting) AD                         Ralph Stem (Acting) AD                     Thomas H. Isaacs (Acting) AD Samuel Rousso (Acting) AD James C. Bresee (Acting) Dep. AD          Jerome D. Sa!!2 man (Actsg) Dep. AD                 Keith A. Flein (Acting) Dep. AD              Lake H. Barrett (Acting) Dep. AD Siting & Facilities                             Systems Integration L                          Policy 1 Program Program Control Technology Division                              Transportation Division                         R:!ations Division Division Mark W. Frei                                        (Vacant)                                 Richard J. Blaney Ronald H. Milner (Acting) Director                                                                               (Acting) Director (Acting) Director I

Socioeconomic 1 Institutional Utensing and Compliance informations Services Management Systems & Planning Division Divisica Division , Support Division - - Barry G. Gale fVacant) Ginger King Harold H. Brandt (Acting) Director Director Director Intermation Resources Management Division Barbara A. Corny c Director .gelocate h mee of Ass stant Secretary br_Iangressional. latergovernraental and Psblic A' tai's April 1968 4

AGENDA .

                         -D0E PRESENTATION 10 ACW ON THE-I SCPANbALTERNATIVECONCEPTUALMODELS-JUNE 28,1988                           :

e o INTRODUCTION- E.REGNIER o- OVERVIEWOfSCP [

        - ORGANIZATION Of SCP -                      D. ALEXANDER         :
        - SCP COMPLETION PROCESS -                   S.BR000UM o  OVERVIEWOfPl#SFORADDRESSINGALTERNATIVE                            l CONCEPTUALMODELS-                            M.BIECHARD           !

l  : o HYDROLOGICCHARACTERIZATIONOfTHE j i D.20XIE O UNSATURATEDZONE-o TRANSLATIONOfHYDROLOGICSETTINGTO l

                                                                       ~

PERFORMANCEMODELINGAPPLICATIONS- S.SINN0CK l 0 ALTERNATIVECONCEPIUALMODELS- J.SZYMANSKI o SEARYOfALTERNATIVECONCEPIUALMODEL ACTIVITIES j i

        - SCENARIOS USED IN DEFINITION Of IESTING                         !

KEEDS - D. ALEXANDER j l

        -TREATMENTOfALTERNATIVEHYP0THESESINTHE                            i SCP-                                      S.BR000UM l

o l

1

p c' o l o C) Ul . l l DOE BRIEFING TO THE ADVISORY C0FlilTTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE

SUBJECT:

HYDROLOGIC CHARACTERIZATION OF TE UNSATURATED ZONE, YUCCA WUNTAIN, NEVADA DATE: JUNE 28, 1988 PRESENTER: DR. UdIGHT T. H0XIE PRESENTER'S TITLE /0RGANIZATION: CHIEF, UNSATURATED ZOE FLO4 AND TRANSPORT MODELING PROJECT, BRANCH OF NNWSI, U.S. GE0 LOGICAL SURVEY PRESENTER'.S TEL. N0: (303) 236-5019 l l l l l

114 ' 3 0' 116' 0 0' 115' 3 0' u s + c o' n .; u .< -

                                                                             'l          $         *

[ .

                                                                                                                                                                            $ * %l                                   .

y

Oi NtvADA

2. .

                                                                                                                                                                                   .z.

• v e 5, -

u> .-

                                                                                                                                        '. ;f 3                                                             .

p. >

                                                                                                                                                                                              ,                                  ..1
                                 \                              -s r s o'             j             : &, h                                  E                                   .. ,                              h "k],,4 e..                              u:,g.                                   w.
                                                                                                  . g..; e                                          *-
                                                                                                                                                                                      ..-                                    ,             :3 WDEX MAP                                                *

[.* *

                                                                                                          ,;!              0                                                           ..,'..

9 D.,  :.; *

. :. ya , : ', , -  :! .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     . 1.

r- '.:::,.

                                                          . g \.wEvAoA .j ..: ,

j*,: ,';*~ . .... .. .,.

                               ' ..* 'PAHUit,ueS A !'E.Sy S.sr ; .
                                                                         .      a.**     .
                                                                                                                ..                    e.                      ,,

l '

.,.R. . .; M; i.).*:.i<'l

                                     . .... .: . . : * .,: s.. : . .,*:. . '4
                            \ ",.**:-l.,t;',%.
                                                                                                                                       '<<e,..
                                     .  *.. .**. ,' J..                  .         ..             YUCCA               ,.

N. : [.

                                                                                  , *     .*[       FLAT w.., '~.w v.1 .:. ::
                            ..                                                                                      : nL                                                                                                                     -

:': . . I'.' :. .. . .l:. :::: . <. lG (U

                 . EAir'

• tf0 , .. !,  :* :: "

w!: - o . .. .' * <* .

i.1 E,h T 57 , s .. * '. f- ;.:

                                                                                                                                                                  ,      y                                             j
             ^                                    .AATE                      JACKASS"                     .

Y b.b FLAT FLATS

• 1 g i .jj,. - - k N . b "*, ,.t.

                                                                                                                                                                                         /,                 .:::c
                                                  } h {*W*

h :.

i

                        #//                                                                     ~\

g S : .

                      '0 Q_ '             EAC R                                                          b w .Ls                                                                 -

m - 3 g O '- P.OlAN $PRINC A.;/.

                 "l'         'O        7                                                                                                       ,

l v l 5 ij ,. . C ot A rN . .. 're . . . . * .

                              =**               .            V ALL E Y' J CT        ' '/ -                                                          I"****

l

                                                           , N PAHRtJMP VALLEY
                                                                                                                                        '"' h';::in         .::                                             1'(p l .* * ,                 *'?.*',.,
                                                        .                          y/h                           ,                          OW:*     _

W:; e h.OOdFIED F ROW rwRL50N AND WILLOEN, 0 25 50 KILOMETEM issa.oENNY AtmJ ORtwtS.1945:

we*OGR A0 AND TNOROA ASON,19 75;

                                                                                             .                                                                 A.ND ST EWART ANO CARLSON.19 70.

EX PLAN ATION OVATERNARY g ALLUVIJhd. LAKE JEDS. AND WaNOR VO(CAteC I . LOWEA CARSON ATE ACQFER [ I ROCKS L . : . . i. . .l TF.RTI AR Y PALEOZOIC (CAMBRI AN) 6NO FRECAMBRI AN tu r RNv0uf t. AND ASSOCIATED YOLCAMC EM A RO MESOZOIC SYMBOLS PALEOZOIC CONT ACT

                                                                                                                          * ^

UNOWFtatNTIAf t0 UmFER CLA$f1C AOUit ARD TNRV57 F AULT WITN SAnttEf M ON UPPER PLATE AND LowtR ANQ UPP(R cam 80NATE AOVWER$

                                                                                                                      ~~~                Rt OM AL WOOn 80UseOAR Y IwAD0% 19 4 H

( APPRostad Att SOUNoARY OF CROUNO w ATER sysitu) UPPER CLAsiaC AOulT ARO gygMgOeON AL haOOEL gOUNDAmy tDes REPORil

                                                                                                                          *              .P.RO.R..,E -tCeo                              0, _ Now.,E. eOW

. FIG'JRE 8.3.1.2-1 r \

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 )

O O o . . Components Of A Conceptual Mod.el For A Hydrologic System

• Geometry-Geologic framework
• Initial and boundary conditions-Environmental setting
• Dynamics and kinematics-Hydrologic plus other physical processes

l O O O . l Geologic Frame, work l l Structural features l !

• Faults l

l

• Folds i
• Fractures i

1 i Hydrogeologic units 1

• Highly fractured welded tuffs
• Sparsely fractured nonwelded tuffs 1

t

i l 116'3 0' 116 27',0* 116 25' l 1 1 1  ; gcj . Y' + .*: r. . p[ '. .- jb M,/,f.c [' ('/ ][j PROW 9% .g i a- j f s 9.' g;.p "' (.V:. -}g. ';

                                                                       '~
                                                                                                                                                                                                      ]                             3"                                      ,
        ,         p ,~ ; '. a                                                                .>.                    <                    -

e. Aq - . .

b.f(,/ p '- f.E' s' , (- h , .,,' f *., , j 1 8, . . 2 .<^

         ) %y Vy y m                                  .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .~.2 0 u
         %. )l.ll                                                              h.2.

f v' ,

                                                                                                                                                               *,w         )+ n, .,. .c                                                        'sy.? ). )                                   1 e&('.                                                                                                                                                                i m,y v. prAo z .                                                                                             s                                                          .

d,J p (.Yo b ) p1 1! ,

                                                                                                                                         \ m{ q:i. , .                          .                        !                                                         Gs l
                                                                   %fj'-ke,. R,8 m_., . 'f.'\f,.                                                                                                 ;

ij9 l

                           ,v,                                  ;

p m~

                                                                                                                                                             .,                ./                  :.                                               .

g, E~f, e Ie . 2:sb .\.

         ?                                ,                          , '-                             .,

cbw- Rwei. $<../ <. . . .

:.:. ) / .: .:. p~, c %. .., + . i 9-  :', l

           /
                  -\               1 > ;

j.

                                                                    .            gg,,. . _                     ,

z.x. - s g:.y ,

                                                                                                                                                             .          qs+ :: .                                               .

A. (; p ., (~-.c - .. m f~~, 8y

                                                                                    .                                                                                 m             ,: :                                                -                        ,                             ,
                                                                        ,gi                                         4        #ga    .

n8e ,. t l m, -,s so. O- 3- -  : .: \ g ; ].

                                                                            -                                                   O OST ,'D,~ce.                                                                         ;                       e
                                                                                          .g).

{ w\ -

                                                                                                     #s               *. 6:                                     'e                                                   -

5' y . s

                                                                                                                          ;e,og     6 / Sn*\ 8.e .::o              ,

m , y-yu .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ,e
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ~

J ,@ n

                                                                                                                                 < < v.

q.: ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ,e                              c-g y                                         .             ..                          O,                               m' 3'                                 .           , ,p
                                                                                                                                                                                                               .           .,ge,
                                                        *           *                                      ~

o "32- - I '. 4 g p 4 . . e- g .. . w: l l so 7,3 m .- e ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   . ;                                              e cuiE5 '                                    he                                    '6 54                                 , %SS                                          *
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ! 'l                                   5 off I

R. AT ~- . J q '

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             .                                      E i                                                                                    6 FAULT SYMBOLS
           ,c                                                                                                                         INFERRED IN                                                                         INFERRED COVER OF                                                     !
                   , OBSEHVED              -

BEDROCK * * * *

• SURFICI AL DEPOSITS O 1 2 MILES l t I 1 I I I O 1 2 KILOMETERS i

O Faults at Yucca Mountain interpreted from geologic mappirig Modified from USGS (1984).

                                                                                           , ,,.-- -_ -_ ,.,,, ._ .--,,----,..                                                          -e,,,,,,--,,,..,--7                               e.,,.,,,,-_,,._w,.,.--.-,,,,%,.,-                ,,

                                                                                                                                                                           \

C i ( / i

   'N /                                                                    V                                                                                         6
                                                                                                                                                                     \.j Cross Section Through Yucca Mountain Yucca Crest                           Ghost Dance Solitario                                         /                   -K*/ fault Canyon Alluvium # '                                                                                                          Eastern fault N

fault " .

                                                                                                                                                  *Ps sc,                 .g                +               n                         ~           tbr              ~= L                -r x :;-A W                                           ,
                                                                                                                  .   *:uspy
                                                                                                                           'w       Unit:          ~                .

• E

                                                                                                                                ^W " Q MW m x %1 w . ue_eauaw.waawn                                                                        . ,_                                                             '%

Repository horizon 4- g %opa@h; ,-..n 43AM w: w, A

                     .-    n .

m. n ~ ~,

                                                                                              ~
                                                                                                         $ $d.sm                                              #             m3 1

p- r nc. + '

                                                                                                                    .l

• WMd ^ '

TEM pg,,n

                                                                                                ?           <,

g m; . 3 . . ,h aC M;g. .. xn my+

                             . . . . .m. ,
                           .-                                                                                                                                                                     l
                                  -          ~    <  v.       ,
                                                                                                                           ,x .
                                                                                                                             -+            z;._ -    s.2,ggee

y. e 4 3,g

                                                                                                ;3 rg n; y
                                                                ., y ,
                                               ,                   7;
                                                    - n                                  .      n                ;                      x;             m(t,u.n.-9
                                                                                                                                                                                 .a 4                                              :n a ^                            ~
                                                                                                                                                                           :~.

' ~::'.a, ,

Ong.. ;g g}

                                                                           * +
   &ter Flat Unit                                               k ndskerentiated~ ~ ' 'W" ~ ~ ' ~%E
                                                                                                                                                                ~

• 3 Water- tabled

l O O O . i l l Environmental Setting i l Lower Boundary Condition l = Water-Table Configuration

• Definition: Surface in space on which liquid-water pressure is -

zero (atmospheric) , l

• Variable in space
• Variable in time i

i ' l l 1 i

                    . - - _    m--             p             m              - - -   -

O O O . Setting, continued l Upper boundary = land-surface net infiltration - l

• Past paleoclimatology
• Present l

                                   +  Mean precipitation ~ 150 mm/yr l
                                   ~

Potential evapotranspiration j ~1600 mm/yr i

                                   +  Net infiltration < 1 mm/yr

!

• Future -+ Climatic change i

l L----- _-__ ___ _ _- _ __ _ ____ _____ ___ a

O O O . l l Settings continued. i Lateral Boundary Conditions ' j

• Must enclose all points in space i from which hydrologic-related j effects can propagate to repository i site i

l

• Variable in space and time '

i

• Working Hypothesis: Defined by the fault systems surrounding the i repository block i

i l i i

 ! O                 O                        o    .

l 4 i l Setting, continued } ! Initial Conditions-+ Ambient, in situ i l hydrologic state of the system

• Surface-based boreholes
• Surface geophysics
• Exploratory shaft facility i

o 1 O ! O . i l l 4 Continuum Hypothesis: l i 4 i l A few field and laboratory measurements describe storage and movement of fluids in l unsaturated welded and nonwelded tuffs l i l l l l l 1 f l

 . ,-  . .  , . - - . . - . - - . . , - - -      - - - - - - - , - - - - - . - - . - . ~ . - . . , - , . , - , . - - - - - . - - - - - . . ~ - - . . . - - - - ~ . - - - . - . - - - - - - - - ~ . - . - . . - - . - - . . - - - - -

C O w 3

    %)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             C                                                                                                        g C O                                                                                                                                  th U) e py-Ams4                                                                                                       o g g                                                                                                                                  y
                                  ._                                                                                   uw                                     .

O C. 3, O

                                  "O                                                                                   ouVii f,n:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ._J g

ww gm'A g m b ,p% o cn a s  % o .cc) x (/) m=h i 5.,

                                   ~3 w

O Q. g% ,We "C *

                                                                                         *

• 0 0

6 @C E: zh O Q "O f*, .ml..

                                                                                                                                  + a-
                                                                                                                                                 ,% *s+.e         -
                                                                                                                                                                                  .,m n,-                      '4 ~              , , . _ ,4 f ~, a
                                                                                                        /                                                       -
                                                                                                                                                                                  ; , ~ f,w                      ,;,,,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ,:                     y ,,'pf n
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 };'              ,9
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ,/
   ,m y                                                        ?
                                                                                                                        >)' %\(', ' .                     >-
                                                                                                                                                                             ,> m
                                                                                                                                                                                   , */                          - > gA',

2, .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  -4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ' C
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    '. ,uy%               4        k
        .o                                                                                                    5                                                                                         r                                  ,<
                                                                                                                                             .%                                             .s                                 . . . ,. c                                     -                            ~                                                        c
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       \'\                                        +

• f,-

7%W,.C ; {'\ 'L.G t'< Ty

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ,a w
                                                                                                                                                                               . D }*

yM,h;h)';k:,iddh~bkhh+

                                                                                                                      .k9     x,                          h, / *!~w--}'Q , * >'iMW,'S                                                                                                          w  >

1

                                                                                                                       ~l ':           :'                   s
                                                                                                                                                       *~~*'.b. .                                       '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         < ,\

e

                                                                                            *g                   %L'                                                        (ll* g ' j p-
                                                                                                                                                                              ^
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ~..                          s;                                                                                                       4= d
                                                                                                        .] e /,~P ;/                                                                                                                                            J~;y':f .. J,'/(                      / T'\,(                                      ~g  5.c p e
                                                                                                                                                                                      ,.<',>tI
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,   ~ s. ,s                   .#

_,4 , W+ .

                                                                                                               \ ,' " _/ . g#ln%k y~ j[!
                                                                                                                                       ~        f                                                       y'        s                                                'k %          ,7         ~

{' ~ 5 sI'

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             '#           ',                                                                            ,4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        '                                                        ^
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        >a o-
                                                                                                                                                          ~s' s                                                                                                                                                                                            >
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       )
                                                                                                  , s (,                          /                                                                                 g(                                                    -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~                 ' .                                      ', ;.

3, g. / <

                                                                                                                                                                           -g L< , q. .

3, , ',  ;

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ;;                         1 4 y-Q(WW%

w  :),f\ G'y  ;, , l O ., ,

                                                                                                                                      , ;, ~. x. .                  n,         %, ,;                       ,                  a 6

w .~. y a m. , e 1 W .'

                                                                                                                                                                          '~
                                                                                         ~/
                                                                                                                                                                             'r' Q~. '. ) ,*"l"'~^I..' , l'* '                                                                                         '

3 ~ l' ,

                                  >                                                     (,,,~~'Q<y.,x.a,,+,}t, - - -

s , a 0 z . ( , ' '~'hs ; l'" c,,'J (_ b

f. x 7 .i' ) .,. e s 4s %ms. ^t

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,,1 ,          .

y )( ., , , Tl(,r 's .- c'y~4D~~ y j?y, ' 1 g i w? - -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . -                         f.q [..                                .,

n=t r ~r.- l<

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ;'% 1, - .

s.>. W v

                                                                                                           }          f'          .
                                                                                                                                      ,%    '%\ \ - / p< ,                                            .

i ls >

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ,                               ,y                   ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .)

g.' s t I

                                                                                                                                                .              ,.f            (,                 ,            ,<    1'
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ;r - o ~% ,,

s -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -wy->                                    .~
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               %,, a, '*'

t t 'r , . vf > ()  % 9 l ,, 8

                                                                                                                                                                                                   ,,,,,,'                                                           's,                                   'po**

• u

                                                                                                                 .tx       s,          . . ,f , ,< , . ..'"~. ~ . 'a s.,,,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          , . ,v, .( . .. .                                                                                 <I

i ! O O O . t ! Darcy's L.aw Notation

     *- F    = Position vector in space F = xi + yi + zk (L) i     a S r = Saturation of fluid f 2

• k(?) = Intrinsic permeability of porous medium (L )

,

• k g(S,) = Relative permeability of fluid f 3

l

• pf = Mass density of fluid f (M/L )
• Viscosity of fluid f (M/LT) 2

     *P,       = Pore pressure of fluid f (M/LT )

2 ! *g = Acceleration of gravity (L/T ) sat

     *K f        = Saturated hydraulic conductivity. (L/T) h,    = Hydraulic head of fluid f (L) l

• F, = Vector volumetric flux of fluid f (L/T)

(

! O O O - 1 l Qarcy's, Law - 11 l Formulationi 1 k@ k g @f)pf + gz) Ff = - Grad ( PP, Pf f Formulation 2 Ff = -K f sat k g (S f ) Grad h, l l

l O O o . ! Properties of the Hydro,ge.ologlo Units: Within the Unsaturated Z;one, Yucca Mountain, Nevada ! Saturated l Hydraulic l Range of Conductivity l Hydrogeologic Unit thickness, m Porosity mm/yr Tiva Canyon welded 0 - 150 0.10 0.44 l Paintbrush nonwelded 20 - 100 0.43 6300 Topopah Spring welded 290 - 360 0.12 0.82 Calico Hills nonwelded 0.41 3780 i 1 (vitric) 100 - 400 j Calico Hills nonwelded 0.29 1.32 (zeolitic) l Crater Flat unit 0 - 200 0.23 18 (undifferentiated 4

l O O O - 1 d 4 i l 4 Hydrau.lics; Of Uns:aturated. Fractures i l l Flow barriers or conduits? !

• Lateral Flow Across Fractures i

l l

• Longitudinal flow within fractures l

i { l l l l l 1

a 8

                                                                                                                                    +

m 1p g gx:

                                             ;5                               :            mm, y&                        ~,y A(9N+D1% g
                                                                                                                                                                                  , 8 c sh,m            e:1                ,      \   , . .;
      +
                )
                                                      . sk
                                                    *<l l ,, ,k
                                                                                                           > >h
                                                                                                               } ' ~ S >~
                                                                                                                           ' , . s4 l
                                                                                                                                                   \ ,,,"v';'f pe s ,
                                                                                                                                                                                           >a
                                                                                                                                                                                                          ,x >

N rc. Y > v'

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ,q
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              *5 r
                                                                                                              ~                                                                                                                                ^
                                                                  ,:f*\                                 '

r V, n: :r . 1 O a

                                                                                                                                      ,e,r-??~A:12-                  <

q} r ':s.!:~) - s' h o, - f +~,2 A .us . e_ g. .

                                                                                                                                                                                                   ,3                               #               % ++y                               -

y k\, > f g i, s '\. 4s + ,

                                                                                                                                              ;                - ~ ,Asax '                                                ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ,1 y     ,                     .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ' t '~<,

2 ..

                                                  \ ,                          # '  ,# 4* *4                                                                                s<+>""'         "'k ,                                '                                        '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ,f
                                                                                                                                                  <                                                                         >+
                                                                                                      ,g
                                                                                                                                                                                                 , \.            .        ,<

g e s,xy. a . >

                                                                                                             ,, s
                                                                                                                > t                                ,g ,,, .

n .,x%, p a

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  .t g'                                                                                                                                                          g\ ' -{y > '                          ~ % c '> %                      f               '

i

                                                                                                                   \ \'
                                                               %?                                        +
                                                                                                                  't                          ,f           -
                    %          .n ( ' ,                           \'         ,/c \ \ '                                                  '             .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,.                                 D                  

t  !

                   <-d
                           /
                                       $ 't,
                                                                     'il '                   kk                        \>,,I5-h         y
                                                                                                                                                                                / k,                              ','N                               ffq    a f'\ v /

g N: /n . 31 ,3

                                                                                                                                                                                ,7-~                                        N-                      f
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 /f
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    .s

• O '

                               .              ,r ':%

N' 1e - 4 g/%

                    %          '\               >

s 5  ! 'i ~*~~ '# U+} ', / k', , \'4 :'.'b<'.;f , i

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   /
                               /

f

                                                                     .,\.

f -

                                                                                                                                                          , ,. s
                                                                                                                                                                                         %                     f                         {               ;.

i \ '>c u n

                                                                                                              <                       .                                                                                                     .s                                                            <
                                                                                                                                                                                              '%.                    /~               ~1
                                                                                                                                    >                                                                          - <                                                                                       3 D        b ]p,!,                       '
                                                                                                                                                          +h')                          .-     :}   l      '.                                       ru?)qQ.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             -)
                                                                       ! l, -, n $                                                       hg [n, ;M zyl(

l

                                           \.
                                                                                    ~

3 y  % +, , f,/. e  ; s,

                                                      ~ ' ,s 3.
                                                  */M, N%;f > ' * ' ;\ >[;ig 4,                            g, m,9-                                                %.,; A m~c $.                                         :       s,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,                                    7>\
                                                                "                                  5 m3           >

0

                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~;>       >
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                <f % ,                 'kJ ~ ,                          *)

Q .

                                        .'n
                                                                   %,         ~,           ,
                                                                                            ' ?(,,>'k)g .gx                  > ,                                                                                                                                                                                                         ,,3' g**<"'*%                                         ' ~ ' ,.~,',e,,         ~

s 'd' ))y,%,-d l^<* O s

                     )

f, w) 3

    ,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         1 E    i         'l                                              <                                                                 +/s                   <                                                                        '                                        G **

l, .s g[vJs/ *>;, 't, l ~-l >

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       /[^^ )
                   ,q,,6                                   1'        p., ,                                                                                                   N'                          ,"* ~ l ?,'G:                        ^p.+

m - -s

                                                                                      ,v                           k, w .l,h             . ~ .

x , ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   >w,c

./

u, f ' * 'b,. *,. :fy *

                                                                                                                         /* ' ,
                                                                                                                                                          + ,
                                                                                                                                                             ~v Y>
                                                                                                                                                                                    \> G ~ '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 , ['  a,+ f*             ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          '/

(

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       , , ,;.p>
                                                                                                            ' tt,, .                                 1,                                                                                    '     
                                                                                                                                                                                                   . . , z, " d* .. y>w""*d f%
                                                  ' * \te,f p' *:
                                                                                               \                                          ,
                                                                                            \ %: ':

t , ""\ f"'J .N',<,

                                                                                       , " f" .                               .                                                                     ,,                                        '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        , ]s Q                                             ,t                                                                                                               >             -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          >( r t -</v\

j'g, 6 ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               - js
                                   ,,e                 ,4              s          ,                                                                                                                  > n. 3 xsg -                           <                 s l                                      f/*                                                                                                               <

a' l~ v ,j_,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         >y                               -                  ~
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ]
                                                                                                                                                                                                   %. 3 ' $'\ [ } p k ) ,
                                           ~

{% .r,

                                                                                                                      ,;2)
                                                                                                                                      .,                            .,4,                                                ;g .y;,' t                     .

j.

                                                                                     '   ,3-                               '
                                                                                                                                           >b                                                             , j/m' '                                          _m g              ,%,

O i

5. 3 c 3 % ' , _ a

                                                                                                                                                                                           * <+te-s r                        l' Z( :-,i <l* , , ,T,
                           ,r'2 c.(
                                                                                                 -                       ~;

es a,, \ yt s j( ( ) . _4 , si 'c s  ! s

                                  '"~~",,'^         rs, }, ',- (~,,7p,
                                                                                                              . ;%, \Q
                                                                                                                                  \                            a x,,,, '
                                                                                                                                                          ' l' ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            , [4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      . , ;( >*\, al 1                                   ,

s , .+ e i , s <s, , ( < <>

                                                                 '.,k,                    f-                                        9, '     *\

s, />u,, Y ^++

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           \

f x v,,9 ro, 4 + , g 4 g s , < y ., j , s < <, rs y ,,  % h

                                                                                                                                                 ,g
                                 's                                <                                                i,,,,                                                                                                                           ,,
                                  >                               ;                     s ,                           o                                                                         ,
                                                                '              ,% ,j            <
                                                                                                  , u a,             ' , + >. ;,, s '

t

                                                                                                                                                                                       < ss'%                                                                       ,/

r ,, e ,

         ,es                               *
                                                                                                              , '                             ,N,3,u~~,,                                   ^
       \ ._-)                                                                                                'y                             .\
                                                                                                                      $d"a",,

! O O o . i l 1 i Air And Water-Vapor Flow i 1 i o Total moisture balance = liquid water 1

                                                + water vapor-

• Water-vapor diffusion
• Water-vapor advection due to i

bulk flow of air i t i I

O O o ~. Hydraulics Of Unsaturated Faults

• Similar to fractures in the welded tuffs Barriers to flow in the nonwelded tuffs
• Hydrologic effects of renewed fault movement

-                               ~

! o O o : l i Hydraulics Of Unsaturated. Faults

• Similar to fractures in the welded tuffs
• Barriers to flow in the '

nonwelded tuffs

• Hydrologic effects of renewed fault movement l

i .

a 4 -. _ _ -.h4. . - - - ~ m---- - - - __w.ms J.- a.--44 h-. - _ _. _.2__ _ _ - , ,_a e - 1

                                                                                                . m ve'n~q               e                  s mm.m                             g . m              s 98"~9~r-v'~~r     %

T:~ s , [% [ s ,' Y e[ , '#

a n ~ n . - ,w .: w : n g s 4j g g g S c'# , A.. v C lt< '

                                                                                                        'f ' } ^ \ s."^.ff):'~ G'&l M r7,[{.,O'hb <'*'.,k/ ,)'l[  , M,,,,

t.' _ m

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ' ' , ^ , , , , ,-

s i

                                                                                                                                                    # k<                                                  +                 . .

h >  % < g Y [g,

                                                                                                                                      '         \              v' as s' g i

t - >+ s y '

                                                                                                                                                                                                         +2 A ,

s 1 - g . * 's, g ss*, s. . ->

                                                                                    \                    ,                '>            &,  gx s'             <>>                                       > >
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ,     s
                                                                                                   *                                                                                 #          $                       v y                                          x,y                                                                                   >

s4 > s 4 4 y >< . .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ,- 1
                                    &                                                                                                             ,                             L<                                              s, . '                                              {L.

Q 6 > t U *

                                                                                                                                                                                            ~     .;'q?
                                                                                                                                                                                                     '.^.                           %,                                           '

e , - i

                                                                                                                                                ?<
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ,                           , , ,f
                                                                                                                    ; ,                  s.                              ,                                ,                                                       ,,-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                .t f,,t,                                    4,          *'
                                                                                                                                ,11        ,
                                                                                                                                                 ~<,~,                              +
                                                                                                                                                                                           ~               y -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              *v;
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ,*f i . , , .

u > , ,p

                                                                                                                >                                                           v                                                                    <
                                                                     ,Y                                     ,y                            ?#                       '>;                            >>                                                                         f
                                                                                                                                        ,r
                                                                'j                       >                  >

s .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ,,1 Q)                      j~          ,         ;,.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       -f
                                                                                                                           . . %, , > P , ' '

T < f 4 s ,

                                                                                                                                                                 ' ' ' ~ -. ,
                                      &                                                                              O l l,,,_                                                                       $g

• O , ', a<
• r <. t- - , ,,- ~ ~+ %

l. ' ,1 ,'

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    >;,g                                                     .

g 4 , -: << h , << 4 '/, '

                                %               {

u<,> n,'- y',+ s <- .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       .s k                                                                                                   F

• 44 muss f 4 i <

                                ===
                                                     '\                   '3-
                                                                     - ., , l
                                                                                                               ./
                                                                                                         , - "~1 w h UMw 4<.           ,s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   %4                   >,

6 p., ^ ch g -

                                                         \,, + ">e e n,             <<                   .<
                                                                                                                         -       ,3 y s
                                                                                                                                                                       'as:.
                                                                                                                                                                                 , y            . <>                                   >
                                                                               ,,                     s              %.                                 >                               Wk ,

q ^ /< < + '

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ]                             O
                                                                                           ,              a
                                                                                                                           . a                      .

a ,L,. .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  '. .-.;  'f
                                                                                        .                        > - x                                                                >

t j 2

                                                                                                                     +'                                                                                                                         ; } &                                                 ;'           ^-

~ i < s i .M

                                ===

h > < , f l , ;' '

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ;L
                                                                                                                            ~l                        >

1 w

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         .. Q)

O  !: .m V, -

                                -                                                              1. , -

i, ,> m_. L -- 4 , i, a $ 4 r

• r

                                                                                                                                                                      .                                                                              1
                                                                                                                                        'm+' * $                      .                                                     <
 .i                                                                                                                                           I                    +1 ~                                          '

y 3- > w ,

                                                                                                                                          .                                                                     <                          e O                                                                                                                               F
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     '.5           -l, $

3:

o O O

                                                                        ~

l 1

OVERVIEW OF ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS MEETING

APRIL 11-14, 1988

{ PRESENTEU TO NRC - ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR NUCLEAR WASTE JUNE 28, 1988 BY MAXWELL B. BLANCHARD CHIEF, REGULATORY & SITE EVALUATION BRANCH W'ASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT OFFICE DOE - NEVADA OPERATIONS OFFICE LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

e o o

   ~

O. 1

6/28/88 PAGE TWO i

l OUTLINE { 1 e e WHAT, WHEN, AND WHERE l l 2 e WHY 1 i ! e TOPICS DISCUSSED l I j e WHO ATTENDED l l e DOCUMENTATION i ) i e RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS OF MEETING l e DOE *S PERCEPTION 1 1 i e PLANS FOR REVISING THE SCP 1 i i 2 I i.

     'O                                 O                                        o
 ,                                                                                              a 6/28/88 jl    PAGE  THREE h

i ? WHAT, WHEN. WHERE l

;    WHAT-  -

DOE HOSTED A TECHNICAL MEETING ABOUT ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF THE GROUtiDWATER SYSTEM AT YUCCA i MOUNTAIN i: i i I WHEN - APRIL 11-14, 1988 i WHERE - ALADDIN HOTEL, LAS VEGAS, NV i l I 1 I _______- -__ _ __ _ _ __- - _ _ __ __ _ __

O O O l 6/28/88 PAGE FOUR WHY e PURPOSE - TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF THE SITE'S GROUND' WATER SYSTEM, INCLUDING INFLUENCES FROM l POTENTIALLY DISRUPTIVE PROCESSES (E.G., TECTONIC. CLIMATIC) e LONGER TERM GOAL - (A) TO ANALYZE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED MODELS TO ENSURE PLANS FOR DATA COLLECTION ARE ADEQUATE TO EVALUATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS (B) TO ENSURE THAT THE RELEASE SCENARIOS CONSIDERED BY THE TOTAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT INCLUDE ALL MEANINGFUL ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF PROCESSES THAT COULD DISRUPT THE SITE DURING THE NEXT 10,000 YEARS 1 1

  ~

O

                                                                                                                                                                 ~

O O i 6/28/88 PAGE FIVE l l TOPICS PLANNED e DAY 1 AND 2 - PRESENTAT!ONS OF CONCEPTUAL MODELS i ! - ASSUMPTIONS l - PHYSICAL PROCESSES AND DISRUPTIVE EVENTS ) - BOUNDARY CONDITIONS j - AVAILABLE DATA

                            - ADDITIONAL DATA NEEDED i                            - ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS 1

l e DAY 3 - DISCUSSION OF SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG l CONCEPTUAL MODELS AND SUFFICIENCY OF DATA l COLLECTIONS PLANS IN THE SCP i , 1 l t ' i

O O O 6/28/88 PAGE SIX TOPICS COVERED j e STATEMENTS Bl:

i 4

l NRC l STATE OF NEVACA DOE I e CONCEPTUAL MODEL PRESENTATIONS BY: W. WILSON, "YUCCA MOUNTAIN GEOHYDROLOGIC l i U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SATURATED AND UNSATURATED ZONES" i S. SINNOCK, "TRANSLATING CONCEPTUAL GROUND i SANDIA NATIONAL LABORArORISS W'ATER MODELS INTO NUMERICAL MODELS" "CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS OF J. SZYMANSKI, l DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY THE DEATH VALLEY GROUNDWATER SYSTEM" A. DUTTON, "CHEMICAL HYDROGEOLOGY MODEL TEXAS BUREAU OF ECONOMIC AND ITS ROLE IN VAllDATING A GEOLOGY, HYDROLOGIC MODEL" ) M. ELLIS & R. SCHWEICKERT, "HYPOTHETICAL CROSS SECTION UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA-RENO FOR THE BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE"

O O o - i 6/28/88 , PAGE SEVEN WHO ATTENDED e A.TJ E N D A NC E ABOUT 160 SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND NEWSPERSONS INTERESTED IN TOPIC e TECHNICAL AND MANAGEMENT REPRESENTATIVES FROM:

     -LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT
     -STATE OF NEVADA,                        NUCLEAR WASTE PROJECT OFFICE STAFF,              AND CONTRACTORS
     -LOCAL AND STATE UNIVERSITY
     -LOCAL,                    STATE. AND OUT OF STATE PRIVATE ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE COMPANIES NOT AFFILIATED WITH DOE,                                  NRC, OR STATE OF NEVADA
     -SHOSHONE INDIAN NATION
     -U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY                          (HEADQUARTERS)
     -NRC AND CONTRACTORS
     -DOE AND CONTRACTORS

                                                                     ~

O

                                                                       ~

O O 6/28/88 PAGE EIGHT DOCUMENTATlON e TRANSCRIPTS - RECORDED BY ASSOCIATED REPORTERS OF NEVADA 3 VOLUMES. DISTRIBUTED IN MAY 1988 l e THE TRANSCRIPTS ARE BEING ANALYZED BY THE DOE TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT MISSING ASPECT TO THE SCP 1 l l

O

     ~O                                                                                                                                    O 6/28/88 PAGE NINE RESULTS OF WORKSHOP 4

3 e PRINCIPAL CRITICISMS BY NRC OF SCP/CD - ) i - CONCEPTUAL MODELS NOT YET CLEAR ENOUGH INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION PRESENTED ABOUT i j -ASSUMPTIONS

-COMPONENTS

                    -PROCESSES
                    -TESTING i

! ALTHOUGH NO NEW STUDIES OR ACTIVITIES WERE OFFERED AT THE l WORKSHOP, SOME MAY BE IDENTIFIED AS A RESULT OF COMPLETING ! THE SCP REVISIONS I l l

                      , _ _ , -er. . .,.4 m.-,....,.--,.,,,,.,,,_,,_________,,,,,.,_.m   .____,-_-.,-__.._____.__,,,_m-,%- _ __...em..

. 3. O

   ~

O O 6/28/88 PAGE TEN ! RESULTS OF WORKSHOPS (CONTINUED) .

e NRC RECOMMENDATION

REVISE SCP WITH A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH i FOR ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS INTEGRATED ACROSS ALL

) DISCIPLINES AND ADDRESS ALL PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES ESTABLISH: l I i (1) WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT PRESENT AND FUTURE STATES OF NATURAL . ! AND ENGINEERED BARRIERS [2] FOR EACH ELEMENT, PROVIDE A DISCUSSION OF THE l l UNCERTAINTIES AND ASSUMPTIONS - [ [3] FOR EACH UNCERTA!NTY, STATE THE ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS, ! INTERPRETATION. OR ASSUMF T ION THAT IS CONSISTENT W'ITH

EXISTING. DATA l (4) FOR EACH HYPOTHESIS, DESCRIBE THE INVESTIGATION, OR INFORMATION THAT WILL DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN. HYPOTHESES 1 (5) PRIORITIZE INVESTIGATIONS TO AVOID. INTERFERENCE BETWEEN l TESTS i

i k i I

l 0 o o - l 6/28/88 PAGE ELEVEN DOE'S PERCEPTION ABOUT CONCEPTUAL MODELS IN CD/SCP . e ALTHOUGH PERFORMANCE ALLOCATION REQUIRES A POSTULATE ABOUT HOW SUBSYSTEM ELEMENTS INTERACT TO DEFINE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE THIS DOES NOT PRECLUDE EXAMINING ALTERNATE ENTIRE SYSTEM, HYPOTHESES ABOUT HOW THE SYSTEM COULD BEHAVE. e AT THIS STAGE, IT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR DOE TO ENSURE THAT j ALL AVAILABLE DATA IS EXAMINED, IN LIGHT OF ALTERNATIVE

HYPOTHESES, THAN TO FOCUS ON DEFENDING THE CORRECTNESS OF ANY

,        MODEL j   e     THE PRINCIPAL GOAL FOR THE SCP                                                                                            IS TO ENSURE     THE DATA l

ACQUISITION PROGRAM WILL OBTAIN SUFFICIENT DATA TO UNDERSTAND, OR BOUND. THE PROCESSES AND EVENTS THAT HAVE THE 4 POTENTIAL TO DISRUPT CONTAINMENT AND I SOL A T I Ol4 DURING THE NEXT 10,000 YEARS l e THE ACM MEETING WAS BENEFICIAL BECAUSE IT ALLOWED DOE TO RECEIVE IDEAS FROM THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY AT LARGE ABOUT ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF EXISTING DATA AS WELL AS { PROCESSES THAT COULD AFFECT THE SITE

                                                                                                                                                     ~

O O O 1-i

6/28/88 PAGE TWELVE 4

PLANS FOR REVISING THE SCP e ACTION PLAN COMPLETED MAY 26, 1988 l e MAJOR EFFORTS UNDERWAY INCLUDE: i 4

       - REVISE CHAPTERS                          1  - 5 i
       - REVISE CHAPTER 8 l

) ) 8.0, 8.1 8.2 INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION 8.3.1 OVERVIEW - PHILOSOPHY, APPROACH AND DEFINITION OF

ACM FOR SCP 8.3.1.2 - 8.3.1.17 TABLES AND SUPPORTING-TEXT IN FOLLOWING SECTIONS:

HYDROLOGY l TECTONICS ! CLIMATE j OTHERS UNDER CONSIDERATION i 8.3.2 - 8.3.5 REVISE TEXT TO REFLECT CONSIDERATION OF l . ALTERNATIVE MODELS L._ __ -.. - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . . _ _ _ . . - _ . _ _ _ _ . _ . - _ - . _ _ _ . . _ _ . . _ _

6/28/88 PAGE THIRTEEN SUMMARIES OF DOE PRESENTATIONS AT THE ACM MEETING e HYDROLOGIC SETTING OF THE UNSATURATED ZONE D. HOXIE. AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN SITE USGS e TRANSLATING CONCEPTUAL HYDROLOGIC SETTING S. SINNOCK. INTO PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT MODELING SNL e CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE DEATH J. S ZY;AANSK l . VALLEY GROUNDWATER SYSTEM DOE l 4

\ . . _ _ _ _ . . . . . . . _ 1 RELEASE SCENARIOS USED IN DEFINITION OF . - - l TESTING NEEDS l t . ACNW MEETING ( l JUNE 28,1988 . I i l i DR. DONALD H. ALEXANDER ' i l 6 l _ . . . _..._ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ m_ .... _ _

e O O . 4 ! CONCEPTUAL MODEL i FOR THE TOTAL SYSTEM .

e. A CONCEPTUAL MODEL IS A REPRESENTATION OF A SYSTEM

• 1 AND INCLUDES DESCRIPTIONS OF PROCESSESS AND EVENTS .

AFFECTING THAT SYSTEM . e A CO;JCEPTUAL MODEL INCLUDES A SET OF WORKING '

  . HYPOTHESES                                                                  .

e WHERE ~ DATA ARF INSUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE UNAMBIGUOUS ~ L INTERPRETATION _. ALTEENATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS , I (ACMs) MAY BE PHOPOSED TO DESCRIBE THE SYSTEM AND THE PROCESSES AFD EVENTS UNDER CONSIDERATION i 1

         -                        ~

4cnworir e/28/i388 ,

a O O UNSATURATED-ZONE HYDROLOGY COMPONENT OF THE GEOHYDROLOGY PROGRAM MODELS MODEL COMPONENTS P A R AME T F.ft CATEGORIES

                                                                                                                                             ~        GEOLOGIC                     SEE SECTION FRAMEWORK                         8.3.3.4
                                                                                                                 .                                                                       -                                                  ]

l TRANSMIS31VE

• 7 PROPERTIES UNSATURATED-ZONE SITE UNSATURATED-SURF A CE-W A TER  !

ZONE HYORAULIC HYOROLOGIC *- FLO A SO UTE +-- t O AND G A5EOUS- *-- p[*[pERTI S

• MODELS PROPE RTIES I

l _ DISPERSIVE . PROPERTIES I UNS A TUR A T ED-ZONE _ MET EOROLOGIC AL . l - HYDROLOGIC * - CH AR ACTERIS TICS ] MODEL -- FLUID FLUX + ! GEOHYDROLOGY UNSATURATED-

• UNSATURATED- ZONE HYORAULIC

} PROGRAM ZONE HYDAOLOGIC - AND G ASEOUS. Flu!G' AND ,

                                                                                                                                                                 +--                THERMAL                                         +

CONCEPTUAL- PHASE INITIAL DE SCRIP TIVE AND DOUNDARY j PO7ENTIAL l MODELS CONDITIONS f i o FLulO CHEMISTRY S A TUR A TEO-ZONE - AND

• i -

HYDROLOGIC . , TEMPERATURE ! HODEL i UNSATURATED- I [ ZONE ,_' MOISTURE , t HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS HYPOTHESES ' I . 8. 3. 4. 2 - 3

O O _ o .

                                                                                                           .r
                                                                                                    ~

SCENARIOS _

                                                                                                         ~   '

l e A SCENARIO IS A SEQUENCE OF PROCESSESS AND EVENTS 1 THAT MAY AFFECT THE RELEASE OF RADIONUCLIDES.

A SCENARIO DESCRIBES EFFECTS ON CHARACTERISTICS IMPORTANT TO WASTE ISOLATION OR SAFETY i

s A SCENARIO IS BASED UPON A PARTICULAR CONCEPTUAL - MODEL FOR THE SYSTEM AND FOR THE PROCESSES AND EVENTS POSTULATED TO OCCUP, l - i e THE COMPLETE SET OF SCENARIOS CONSIDERED SHOULD . ) ADDRESS ALL ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS l APPROPRIATE FOR THE SYSTEM l l - l 1 - ACNW.ORF C/28/1988

                                                                                        ~

O. O o . RELATION BETWEEN SCENARIOS AN'D ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTUAL MODELS i - I CONCEPTUAL CONCEPYUAL CONCEPTUAL MODEL MODEL 999999999999 MODEL I t 2 n , l o 1 r , r

                              ,   r SET OF                               SET OF                    SET OF i
                  ~

SCENARIOS ' SCENAHl0S SSSSSSSSSSS SCENARIOS ! FOR AsODEL FOR MODEL FOR MODEL . 3 2 n e l

• I

                                                                                           ,   r       -

j , , , , , j SET OF PROCESSES AND EVFNTS TO BE TESTED 1 . e a I i i 1

                                                                                                         .w a.w, m ..

i - 1 i

P O .  ! oPERFORMANCE ALLOCATION FOR "NOMINAL" O , 4 AND "DISTURBED" CASES 4 1 ISSUE I.1 ' LIMITING RADIONUCLIDE RELEASE TO ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONr4ENT i /

                                                                                                        /

1, NOMINAL DISTURBED DISTURBED O!STURBED CASE CASE CASE CASE

                                 ,      ICLASS #1)                              ICLASS #21                       (CLASS #7l                 -

\ l l d 4

                                                                                                                                  ~

I I l

• 8 WATER GAS

) PATHWAY PATHWAY  ! ] COMPLETE COMPLETE COMPLFITE COMPLETE

                                                                                                                                       ~

PERFORMANCE COMPLETE - , PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE j ALLOCATION ALLOCATION ALLOCATION , ALLOCATIOf1 ALLOCATION J . . . . . STATETHi-10/2/87-VA i . 2 i __ _ __ _ _ _ . . . _ _ _ . _ _ - _ _ _ - - . - - . - - - - - -

O O O . FOCUS OF THE TESTING PROGRAM l e THE SCP/CD TREATMENT OF TOTAL SYSTEM PERFORMANGE W'AS STRUCTURED AROUND A SET OF SCENARIOS ! e THE TESTING PROGRAM IN THE SCP/CD IS INTENDED TO ADDRESS THE FULL RANGE OF SITE CHARACTERISTICS ~ RELEVANT TO THESE SCENARIOS . l i e THE SCP SHOULD CLARIFY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ' ' THESE S;TE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE ALTERNATE CONCEPiUAL MODELS THAT SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR THE SCENARIOS l ACNW.BRF 6/28/1988

\                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -

o O O . ! SCENARIO CLASSES I ! UNDISTURBED PERFORMANCE (A) UNDISTURBED PERFORMANCE OF ALL NATURAL - BARRIERS ' l l DISTURBED PERFORMANCE ' l (B) DIRECT RELEASE . (C) PARTIAL FAILURE OF UNSATURATED ZONE BARRIERS:- - l CHANGE IN FLUX IN UNSATIJRATED ZONE i - RISE IN WATER TABLE } . CHANGES IN UNSATURATED ZONE ROCK-HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES OR ^ j GEOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES l (D) PARTIAL FAILURE OF SATURATED ZONE BARRIERS: .-

             - APPEARANCE OF DISCHARGE POINTS WITHIN 5 KM DOWNORADIENT OF CONTROLLED AREA OR CHANGES IN FLOW DIRECTION IN SATURATED ZONE INCREASED LINEAR WATER VELOCITY IN THE SATURATED ZONES, CHANGED

' ROCK-HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES, OR CHANGED GEOCHEM! CAL PROPERTIES l (E) PARTIAL FAILURE OF ENGINEERED BARRIERS ACNW.BRF 6/28/1988 l

5 O DISRUPTIVE SCENARIO CLASSES BEING EVALUATED FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN , t sf t;T Q= can augtg a DIRECT CH ANGE IN R AISE W ATER CHANGE UZ NEW CHANGE $2- CHANGEEBS

                   '"' s      ts =

FLUX IN UZ TABLE PROPERTIES DIS CH A R G E FROPEe. TIE S PERFORM.

    ,,,,,,,,,3                     RELEASE snoengs ca eve =1                                                                           POINTS X                                        X                                               X                                      X EXTREME CLIM ATE                              X CHANGE X           X                           X                                                 X                                     X OFFSET ON                                    X FAULTS X

VOLC ANIC X X ERUPTION X X X X X IGNEOUS X INTRUSION TECTONIC FOLDING. X X X X UPLtFT OR " SUS $lDENCE I X X X X X g g EPISODIC CHANGE IN STR AIN X Sil8S10ENCE OF X MINLD ROOMS FLOODING OVER X l SEALE0 SHAFTS i X EXPLORATORY X DRILLING EXTENSIVE X X

• X X X IR RIG ATIC H ENGINEERED X X X X X IMPOUNDMENTS EXTENSIVE X X X .X X MINING GROUNO WATER X X X WITHO R AW AL 0217 0C6408 6 ? 48

0 0 . O .

TESTING PROGRAM ADDRESSES PROCESSES AND ,

EVENTS IMPORTANT TO PERFORMANCE I .

i e FLUX IN UNSATURATED ZONE . e RISE OF WATER TABLE t l

e PROPERTIES IN UNSATURATED ZONE ROCK-HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES l - RADIONUCLIDE RETARDATION PROPERTIES I -

GAS-PHASE TRANSPORT CHARACTERISTICS FRACTURE CHARACTERISTICS f i ' j e FLOW PATHS IN THE SATURATED ZONE 1 - j e FLOW CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SATURATED ZONE LINEAR WATER VELOCITIES ' j{ - ROCK-HYDROLOGIC PROPERTIES l - RADIONUCLIDE RETARDATION PROPERTIES o ENGINEERED BARRIER SYSTEM. PERFORMANCE LOCAL FLUID CONDITIONS THERMAL HYDRAULIC EFFECTS THERMOMECHANICAL STRESSES GEOCHEMICAL CONDITIONS RADIATION EFFECTS ACNW.3RF 6/20/1988

i TESTING PROGRAM ADDRESSES POTENTIAL CHANGES.TQ i O THE SYSTEM tpf tCT ON DAA&Mtit A

     ,,,,,,,,,a ssQ        DIRECT RELEASE CH ANGE IN FLUX IN UZ RAISE WATER CHANGE UZ TABLE    PROPERTIES         DISCHARGE NEW     CHANGESZ PROPERTIES CHANGE EDS PERFORM.

l

• Access on tremi POINTS i, EXTREME CLIM ATE X :X X X X CHANGE i

OFFSET ON X X X X X . X l FAULTS i VOLCANIC X X X i EHUPTION ,  ; I lGNEOUS X X X X X X INTRU$lON l TECTONIC FOLDING. X X X X t UPLIF1 OR I SUBSIDENCE [ I EPISODIC CH ANGE X X X X X I IN STR AIN l SUBSIDENCE OF X X j MINED ROOMS i [ FLOODING OVER X  ! SEALED SH AFTS E X PLO R ATO R Y X X i ORILLING , dXTENSivE X X X X X IP RIG ATIO N l l ENGINEERED X X X X X IMPOUNDMENTS i i E XT ENSIVE X X X X X MINING . { I l GROUND. WATER X X X WITHD R AWAL j L .  : O ..,,..,,,.... i l l l

                                                                  ._     . . _ _ _ _ _ - , _ . . _ _ _  ..- ~ .-

I O j. .-.,p p

            ,- . o.           ,
                                                      .c
                                                                                                   ~7                                      =-

_2 . 14.m.. J)[,. g*g .4W. : J, . , ~ . _ - 'i W.,. 4

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     , -,, iA pd'; .t u.e,. -+ -. ,.;

7 . . , , , a ,_.,% -

                                                                                                                       - 'W:                                                                                                                                                                                                     ""*@

• di'*E*".3 g ...., . ,[g..t .U.h

                                                                                                              -                                                                                                                                                                                                                     tw: pt  ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ,p h .. ' .sh .DA
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -Q~'K"G C.:. 4%                  fW, . Q                      Y' j:. -'.
                                                                                                                                                                                       - A.Jj;E - ~

Ty --.w n m.. t,3.1 .

                                                                                                                                                                            +h                                       M** df                                   h                                                                                                            '2 e _,.

d m 'a.#b A. .'M, f! dj' . h*MW"5 ' ' y [ -u

                                                                                                                                                                             'is
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ;, - - - .__     m I

k g m.-. --=+ - p .qw.a n 2. 3 y ii e ggg .4,ur 8 e N

                                                                                                                                                                           $                         ?        ,    h            {  13ift#                h*b                                                                                                                        'b h___ [ h f.

i } iw;rm oY.'i -! l l

                                                    ^ 94f5j'*

M W3

                                                                                                                                   ?qqa1
                                                                                                                                                              %(%r,r                                      4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    )J}hj                                                                                                                                                             *y M
                                  .ro -

w tQ--r* . 4f.P

                                                           ;t@w, ed,,                :

r n.f .t i4w

6(% n, h i y *-T . w

d

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         'a
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              .?.
                                                                                                                                                                                             -" ~                                 ""~'??              ., v+ v 2:

aG'*2 *:*nt .' t &""'-

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ?'
                                                                                                                                                                                                         ~

1k"*?',t*1 M 'W Fadi "y!d!*,$,"*,"F*S'i k?P WW.G7"2)$5 1 & QTrdfe.ddfd.:?I:%- Mt cc mm r h' Gb W.1) 6

4. .

p...a. waw :wm,-

                               .r wf-                                          e+ mu~ e w v.s%
                                                                                                            - ,:w v:4.14a. m. ne        m- rm a

r

                                                                                                                                                                          .M ",W.              ff        l'.

3 w sp "t:SiTam amren*' eers - ~ n~~ r 4.p)W. . n w ~~ u

                                                       - ,                                                                                                                       4 v,s*                        tt!                                                                                                                                           '.

w.

• P;.%.e l.ke # r.a t

paw.r'y/ ga sw<tyr*te 1 * **neA P r..nsr p prt*. tat . r 73 j.3  % * **f . N p?{t4* r N&@*O' it

                          &..cT   , s' t. s 4.'5*M.w v                              ii me'by'  c'

• e'd, ....i.i,-' .2 h .'. 't**% "r & S ts3T'k - W k&c&.f - h. **4 g vers .i.u' Mh <M 3 .

                                                         ---r                                                 w4                     w M.r5?.d u ,4                        .t s-; t         v                                                           W-.tw                                                                                                                                .

M M N,,~nN I.IdI,S M I lMfN, 6i,3$1yd. 4 .' C'Y$8ehId.' ' xN

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 'U.L%

n %~.w,-ku.as. mm. mm v-asawn, w- .,a w,. w.-

m. u..* ~ 2.. t

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   .It.$
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     .u              ,wan m.,aan:,.
                             ,b dMNM                                                                                Mhh                                       'efMMN                                       d        b                                                                                                                                                                     ^

v.w  ; intnn 0W20h,wmGMDER ~ w. u ww @erm .ww- 7, a.xts %iem ptn 1.v' . C,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         -pryr                                                                                                                  rw E[

k'vmwd.=': cc.w .yC =w$w:rse aet=.a w w . .w ; O kc , n. n w*c 4 , m m.m i

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      *q
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "              -;: C s.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ;,2 Nu yy                                                                                                                   %, we w ;

e-gm

                                                                                                                                         .m     cm . ;m. w+7 x                .v a: n.u m :.

w x =omryg . m.:= . O 4de e arnw'

• QM*-9 f"d'. -

sc&w ** c r s.a.,w

                                                                                                                             '? 7*f" scw rc rp' m.

t

                                                                                                                                     '.MQ[

7 '.5 y"

Q6.

aq .,

                                                                                                                                                                                                           ?

c.: e fy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      %s                          f         u . 3,b uf . e. .

TM* '

• K.2.:n C lip."%L.'- W g"*;4 M ~.h i

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ]h../h                                                                                                                                           Tg im?;-@iW=;N ,. :4:
                                                                                                                                       ;MX                     4 *it4G                                     ;          Q M%,.,e Y:n %=1m W:

mm.r tnM1 n%un.wW: gr ct"W.x.m mrc. Jh;T

                                                                                                                                       =:m                                                                          m *                                   ..g-                                                                                                                       y 1

m, m 4' Mm *E* rJamsjg s,a. W d. 4 A. ",'fp<c e rw a  ; s:eu, r -W 1

                                                                                                                                       ,, e G,.e..e',e                  wdp%e,.                                                                              sa                                                                                                                   n dy.

e.1W .

                         . - - ,..                                              n,m y /sW'. Ns1 **tes                                                            ,e W ..
                                                                                                                                                                                          .t Pt a         - Y:u, b            ?

4

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~l,.. w;g,                                                                                                                             9. .

w b 1I

                                  .                                                                                 h.Y <^e.,                                           ,                                                       1 hh                                                                                      h dnSE$ M N                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ]

ww hs

                                                                                                                                         ~-

v'.ww.paghXc.; k rsw.e -  %  : &= M. w ~~ - - w y

                                  .:'C n                                                                                                                                                       :S ** W L s                                                                                                                                                                            bj
                            *W.  Jpr.23% di? W uM'                                                                                                               M.,M'      f n d>'              m.cy-), ,:                                                    -7Alw                                                                                                             ,Mg m'%

• F Yevtfenti'gth t

g p c -Q r fi,. ff.a* L. r-Y= 4yA , _** sq.mpw I- fe ~ ba;;i"'.w%w&.a w snm sCM > a,~'t V > #

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .. . sp -- l I                                                                yk. ;
                                  ~rg ..

u- n wy 4 w ,, i s. D ^"- ~__3.. ' ,, , . j

                                                                                                                                    '. .                                                                                                                                                      .f.
                              ]{TS                                                                                                                                                                \M 1, . d,a g?                            i.t g* }

i

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          )1

[jac p. nAg5,.Q-.- .-

g. g. .c

                                                                                                                            +,y.

m) gI

                                                                                                                                                                          .s i

C s M

                                                                                                                                                      *VM w,NI.ch IfH ymn. ,a[MN[                                                  -
                                                                                                                       - DM. Mb,c ;"~                   .

pc

                                                                                                                                                                                                         - ne:         w 1

1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ^ .r.j. , .              . .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ,ur r           .",                     ..

WuxWM$... u:: m . a .a, w um,x s.n, .,3 .w y

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .a                                        ..o  *.
                                                                                                                                                                                      .egp                                                                                                   ,a W
                            - M,es ,msoas s.; 'r r, tyg,pspsaarnpw Asvs.                                                          ;wr swU      *em. e peem.ef 4n '

p, si i ger eis tes g; , bec.frp.t.o w -_.,,..,a q sug

                                              * ~raf4cwts.es EN                               m:T.7                           J8'                                                                                                                                              ' I
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               . ,,g, ~
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    = -
                                                                                                                                                                                =-.- ~___                _,                               ___
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          - ==                                                                      _
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              - . - - - - _ - - - .                                                                                                                       _ :- wM L_                                               - D e]F:                                                                    e                            'T                          I ee :                               e
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      . - - -: - .. - - - -Ip p] ---      '

gggj t- - - - _J g g g s

                                                                                                                    ,                                                            \

i e  : .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      =-

a sess= E  !*g. eiMi a mastsi

1 l l l l i

            } . _. - . . .:

@?

m..

                                                                                                                              %                                                                 w       Nu1                                                  . ~-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ' %                                       -~ - .                                                          ..

hf I ^

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ,h h"f i                                    w$                                     i                                               y                                                         .,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         7W l

Q,. ' re% #.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             .gr"4C ,p';.fu,n.                                      @. W                           t:i& .3';n q .

7 *- y r*

y. s Amf

                                         .                                                                             yo                                                                      .,
                                                                                                                                                                                                      .r--                                                _,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ~.                                                                                                                                  .

l *

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      . .. r-@Q                                                              ./ M( . f.I., . . [ ' $,h.;gd
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           $ %[

3

                                                                                                                                                                                                               - t                                                 ..

e<c,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "         .-                      q . ifJo          4 v- pm L x[.4                         .. . ..
                                                                      ..             .,                                        ' ' ,p                                         yh,.                                      l j. t tL ~ ;~s ;                                                                  *.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ~ -l. .                         ,-

e

                                                                                                                                                                        . s.                    .._ ; ;. ,                                                . . . . .                                                                                                                                           .

• I 8 ' y } j. " ,

t .

g. Matr 4 - ' ._t 4 .-

Flow alond (" .._. J I

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 .L
                  ..                                    gractures                                                                                                        a infiltra                                                                                               . -           . es-2                                                                                                                                                 .
             - -- E .                                              - ,.                                                           g.{ .                              .
                                                                                                                              .v                                      x
                                                                                                                                                                                              .                                                         g
                                                                                                                           .d . '    [                        '
                                                                                                                                                                                                     ..i..       ..$                                              ~ ..                    .
                  ' i~..d,'. . ,'. . . e-
                                              . . . .                                                 0
                                                                                                                                 - k..'...                ;h..'". Js'..;- .", k. .l., I Is ; i I
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 *h.      4 as a.
                          .g
                   .: . . . .                              ...<4.

an m

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     . . , :.- t
                                                                                                                                      ^
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ~ ' '. ' ' '                                                      - * ~ -

4. M..r.c.. M.:. . ~ > .Q-QM

                                                                                                                         . ..X.)4%V,W.nl                                                             : .Wa,-M.4:'.c N. .,* . .a,.s
                                                                                                                                                           ...e                          . , - r. , ; .
                                       ,s..                        n                      .U*                                                                              a.s a k i-                                                                n                          sn                                                                                                                       - -

y y ."r g,.o><;- q*q .p.g-er -s . ' 3 - .py'

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      . p.           .g             +h b.g"
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  's .                                                          .y
                 ,M*,
                                                                                       ,J b " . * ;                                                                                                                                                                 .j f.;

g. g. ; W.a ...; ._f.h.g n.i

h. . l'.. p#.. .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                +.;
             ,; ~ .s . . . /. . .,.j '1                                       .

_ ; __;a ..

                                  .* ' .                      - 2, . .                           :                     .-       .$ t.# . N -                                                                                                                 9*'"*                      7              v'                                                                                    e
                                                                                                                                  .1/ *.; p (gMk.ir                                                                  *j f - ..pT . '6

p. '

{ * ,,,.; . 4

                                                                                                                             *L :
                                                                                                                              +t7g3.g .. , . . ; g. j

n. : (. -

                                                                                                                                                                                                             .,         * ;:, ...- - g.. y' g,                                                    -

e

                                                                                                                          .. p py; y (( ;.. p. 1 .; .                            3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .,; c ; - :

{. I.;.- . 1 ; Q . *, f y - ; .P -t  ;  !. . ,

             $. a                 .g . . , .                                                                                        t
                                                                                                                                               ,.4.        .
                                                                                                                                                                .e 4. : .. . ' ,.                        '.. ,

4,' , 4 .T O "f, .- ~...

                                                                                                                                ..z                                                                                                                                           ia ji. . yl g '," :,' M . y
                                                . . . ;. . ; -'                                                                                j ,,p f ' -]

4 ]1.-- --m.7

                                                                                                                                          ;I h

t' D

9. z u. . .."n

.' {. .- 8

                                                                        ~

f Q' . ) !' 4 3 ,.

                                                                                                                                    . ,.                                             ..                                             6,                                                    .. g                                                                                                                                                         .-

5-  ; i *e d '... i a 8 -.. .

                                                                                                                                                                                  ]; p

{

                      ','~,                                                                                                                                      *

4. g

                                                              .                                                                                                  . - . . .                                                          p.

eg5 . ..j .

                                                                                                                                        , ,                      S          c.          '06                                                  _"                    4
                                                                         .s                                                   .

N..'.' *

• I

[ : __m.-... DR.. MAW TEST-.. yJ2VfLj.>3 n 4. %w l

               ; ;[                             .,
                                                                                                                                                                                          .                    ...                                              . y                                                                        _

bm 7. p...- N q w~ T " b . ' p.i. F_ %_ .5.4 Y.. *

                                                                                                         ' .             .1                                                   I      1
                ', * '"b -.,yg; T.                                 ..a.M'     L ...~'
                                                                             .'...                            .5                                                                                          p ' ' . ; ei.- 49.                     b .                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ,

i (* [. V" .. a ^,M D " gyh iM ,./.it..., . ;,f,s [. ,3 - w. ". 4 *dM,gO.e2rY lIG .- R,..;.,$:p,cf A, . c

                                                                                                                                                     -c.

n, .. .

• W.:~.

                                                                                       *I . '                                                 4                        . g l ,'s' .' .
                                                                                     .. n 3                                               , .        . w                                             .. ..

i ,,% ...'3f.,i

                   . d i {ig.f :;,g;*J.                                                      ..                            . .. ep. A g:. .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 !f.f . ' .

jY , a A-m

                                                                                                                                                              - .; : = -

JuaQ,.:.N__

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ; =. 2 . . .                                                                   .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     -r
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .y- .-                                        _
       / ._ . ._ _ ' . .                                                                                                                                                                                         -- - - _ _ _ _ _ . . _ - -. ., . _ _ . _ _ . ,                                                                                                                                                     .. _. _ _ _ . _ . . . .

_-.__.__%_ . . . . _ _ a L es^

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -.-...--...O y              .. .
                                   .. .                                                                                    6                     . ..                                                                      - * .

a , ,2,_,. - - - . ,_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , - - - - - - - , __ , b i.^' i , , J

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     .'g* ~

g + , A MN - e - g.,,,,

                                                                         - I.$ j %                                                                                                                                                                           "*'                                                                                                                                     -

pt 2 Myg.:-*M . e. k;N N OT ( Y 4 1/ 3 ~ r2 UG% .. wijg: 'I k,yp.gN'ekjb ,3

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     .h

{. ( s[.m.fif. .... f #,. .. ,. . ... . . .. . .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ._ ..,,.                                      ,c. .m,<. ' -7 gg D V -~%g " ,* * +

• 4 ,"i1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .                                                                                                                                                                                 44y,.-
                                                                            - -                                         7;h                                                                                                                                ,                                          ...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . . ,j,,, , g                                                                              s wA.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ' *.gS=H I                                               ,                                ,

i * ,1 e r I n ..

                                                                                                                                                         .l . .                                          2
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ~                                                                                                                                                                 -
                                                                                                                                                                                             'I' *                              -
                             #        ' Flow alon0 :                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            '

ES- I3 . f. ntygmen g~3.;.. y

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            - ,r                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  '
                                                                                          ., .                              u                   . .a..                             .

L; j ' j.

                                                                                                  '                                                y -!,                 .                        -

t ., ..;

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . },                         #t               .
                                                                                                         ' , .f .

• 2 ,* . +..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .s ,                                                                                                                                           - .
                                                                                                                                                     '3 4 :

2. . ', ,

5

                                                               -                      f    .'.
                                                                                                                           .[.-* .] .                                ,
                                                                                                                                                                         ...'                                           7   '.'}g l, : y                                                                        ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           )

4'$.

                                                                                                                                                                          ' ~-

Ci! .* 4' . - . . ' i I F  ! E.f.f i, ~

                                                                                                                      .T                             if                   .
                                                                                                                                                                                                  ~ ~ . End. .                    -

g

                        .., '                                   '                                                                                                             :                     ~

9 s '

                          .',                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    j
     .~
                     ***'9--              'g
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ;      -g                                                  e J                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ,

c

                                                                                                                                      "                                                                                                                                          t
                                                                                                                                                                                                      . .                                                                        ~

t t ., ~

                        .j' 4

.J l

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .; -                    l f ,                                                                                    *'.                                            ,                  . .

6 e.. ' ' 'N e. g N 1 [ ' '

                                                                                                                                                              !                                                 ~l                  e i

i ,d _ r.. . - e -

                           .c                                                                                                                    -!

. [' ,, ,

3

                     .y.                                           ,
                                                                                                                                                              . **                           .m                                L                            t : ',               }                                                                                                   - ,, ...

4

                                                                                          - IC
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ~

l ' S.

      '                                                           ~.-
                                                                                                                           . '! - ()                , .

1*: a s . ll ' .,

       .n            %g ;.
                         *p p f-g
                                                                                                                                                                                                 *r
                                                                                                                                                                                                       .f.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    *i U
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      =.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . yj U:;
                                                                                                                                                                                             - .c e                                                                                                                                                                     *                                                                                          -
                   ..mg$,:

6 ..., 1em g*

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ~
       .                                                e.-                                                                                                                                             ;. ..

W

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      '                       4 9 h "g
                                                                                                                            -[ ,                        '8                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .-
                      ; p' i l.d -' .
                                                                                                                         ,j '.

• i ' y  : ,

f l-3 e

        , *..vo.           .,

L. g . . i f

        , 'M L';

3. j

                                                                                                                                      ..                                        TEST                                        .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      . g                                                              *                                          ' . ~<                                      .

a

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ~.          y/'.                "     *
                                                                                                                                       , , ..-LEVEL a, ,h....,.

i . .

        ;                     i.                              +;

• 4, . .

e Q~ $h ('*- . S) %s;s.w ~~ %s

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ._y. 2 - an,;, / n_m          ^ %' a,                                                         g &
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ;v .                                      s
              .. y/.E                                           ..                                                   ;                       <

q 1s . . , s m...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                , ; _.                      a. -                       ,

4 ,, c .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ' ^'                                                                    ,, c.g nS$f . ':ll p p..{*,i$..;
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      .     .. b$

m . ' S m. .s, e

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ,3,$,,, t [mllf .gmg.g VKK fy , .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -)e&,.g                                                g;*f,'i W
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          <-                        . . .T                     hp O: -^          M1Q
          - e. . .
                                                                                                                     .w , ' -

• mw

                                                                                                                                                                       " 'W 4

fyg;g

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ,.yg y.l[..
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                't         * ' ' ~ s.t n ,               d    ,,4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ,g .y.g;;            ; ,9. f. 8 49-  ,, ., *c y'. .t ....c t ,y i
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               * *

• e*=emas w d.i.C '

4. .

l l l l l

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            \

\ l 0 -- -

            +*..

mm '

                                             - %2,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ~

M m.r.ww.&o+a

         ,m                1
                                                ,ae        n.                    t M;...-  L :%.                                 ' '~
                                                                                                                                                                                             - ~ -" " %m,vm,r..%x                   -

m 44 . . , ._

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ;            . we. .y -W s 2 ,,      ^'.a
         *' ' ' .:.M;G ' '..., * ?                                                                              l_                     c                                                                                                                                               ^ h_Kep [ Q _;*' ll.G,r2                                                 l* ',,;Q:nyj Q _ m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       )y
                                                                           ~

h w; .i,3a~c~ W # J.iP;r  ;; - ,, i N %P.h.y,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             . m.cs          e..

g,.'F.a w C%;F o n am 4%,m,%J, . ,rp t m-un,a.. ~'.-- wwse,e. x.sa.ts w. .~.. s..mn'rL. wuw

          . . * . .

• w . . .. . . - :4t.m-

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       .r f t 4*'%m                  *W
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     . g Cum      u f 4W...a**'.m                          s rI=O8                                                                   #*' '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .~                            -

W.p,M c..~ -i' y? ff4{ L'[ .o f .

                                                                                                                                     *-'                                                                                                                                            --.'              .%.h                  y'n F . .'                                  . :N term. t '5,'.Y.W.

r g "y s

                                                                                                                               . n@999                ;W.l;gg,-        X4 ' ' ,,,~                                                              ,x :             's                                   &hWls ; .* *. < . , * . ' '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              .,A

p. upq)4 g' 3 Q w iny. .wg y

                                                                                                                             . %. 1:                                 . . . ..         9 y; .m, /. .                                           '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ..y.., .w f                j l.                                    ;a _'

L (s. ' K. s j . 1 : a s  ; ?.f, L .

                                                     ,                                                     .yh                                t .                   w, 1, T          g
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               % P,Q.;g.p:. ., . . , .
                                                                                                    .,,                                        y,                                       .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .            - ..                                                                        . ., .e.jM
                                                                                                                                                                            . . .mp.. .c 7; . .; es e. . .                                                                                                                                                                                       . ,3g

7. . . .. . . . (,. . ..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ..                                   .                                                                                                                og' W.                             .-                                                  -

g ' 'R' -

                                                                                                                                                                                        . t i;
                                                                                                                                                                                                       .                ;q                        ,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            \

n. -  ;

                                                                                                                                                                                      +                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             l .-

9 (

                                                                                                                                                                                 ;.                                                                                                                                                                       N
                                                                                                                                                  ;- - .2,4,.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - .                                                                   ~                     ..
                                                                                                      .                  ;.                                                                                                                                         .~
                                                                             ' 8T                                                                                                       ik
             . . I*.                                                                                                    J                                                                                                                                                                                                 o g
                                   '^'                                                                                                                                ;.
                                                                                                                                   .           .i .                                      s -                              i.

1I e.O i f a ;I fe U s' ,

                     -J ..;. -.                                     .                                                     :

p . ,& e, ' t e l

              .e6a-a--

r } , .

                                                                                                                                                                                           .. - ,.-                                               ..r                                                                                                                  s                                               . .,

4. .

                          ....u.                                                                                          i                       e
                      . .a
                                ; , e                                                                                      '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ,s.                                                                                                                         .
                                                                                                                                                                    .c
                                                                                                                                                                                                             .            4.

e m.

                         '.sp .                                                                                                                                                                          c , .c                                                                                   ,               .
                                  ;i -                                                                                                g            P. .                              .,'.                                                                                                                                                                     .q
                     ;. T <                             ..
                                                                                                                       ;                         i            l' _
                                                                                                                                                                                       .g;,y:
                                                                                                                                                                                         ,5
                                                                                                                                                                                                                ; ,-        s. (.                     b                                                                                                             ,
                          - .~;
                                          .m,,                                    *                 -
                                                                                                                                                   -;         o h
                                                                                                                                                                                            ,                               .. . " ' ' , 4 $
                                                                                                             ** . + de,                                                   I                     ;                              '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ~
            .- -                                        [ .' '                                       ..;; *
                                                                                                                     ~
                                                                                                                                                ,f - I h !r, g
                                                                                                                                                                           .       . l j, . ;
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ,-                       i 6                                                                  (
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               $                       !-          .. ;                                                                                  e
                                                                                                                                                                ; . ;. ...           M. " .
                                ,i                                                    g
                                                                                                                   .* (' f - :: ...%.I.'M 7 .,.' . . . ..                                            ..

p ..- i, . ..1- . . . W.. *k g .- - . i . ^ ,.I .;; Q. > .. M  :  ;. . *

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           , :,,                                                                                          ..                                                   .          .g , ,

h

                                                                                                        ~
                                                .. ' Y [ ,. . .                                                                                           .                                                         ..                             .
            .w-    .s                    .3. _ ,            ..
                                                                                                                       .s.

i ..s

                                                                                                                                               .j, f3*:.          .kl
                                                                                                                                                                    ' 9 ,'Sc..      -.                     ' . :,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         . . N. ^                       -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         +

y , . . . s'

                                                                                                                             ; r.. :
             .,,                        ry                      :.                                                                                                                                                                                         g.- l.M 4 -
            ' 'Q .y& * . . . -                                                                                         :                                                      %" ' Q f ' if' , g                                        i'                    *
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                .l" L *.',2::                                                                                             . fheYO  .( Msf #

jsj.:hA... t ^. . . . 'g' .. j-..y' gys .*. " ' . A .

                                                                                *                                                                                                                          =                                                      . .: , .                                                                                        .

g . .. , . .. ,,

                . %[h :                                                                           .

P; r jp g. 8

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ,,         q             J,                                                                                                                                                   .             -

I .. * - " -

w. ., ..

                ' . . . 2..,. . 3.d *p - - s * . ,,

l - . e '

                        .                                                                                                                                                                                                     ti .                                                                                                                                                                                              ,

p: - G . so g

                      ? aa,                                           , ,                                                 1                   MAER TESTn                                                                                                 .

s a: M , i .[.: i r. t.EVEL . .  :.p'r fi - i - j

                                                                                                                                                                                   , ar *
                                                             ,                               *$                 g 8                                         , . -            ^ * ' " ' "          .,           ,O#                          'g
                                  ~c.

J . ".. ,,.., - ,-- -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ~g~..
                           ..                              .,                                              't
                                                                                                                                              -

• l w . cH '% '

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ' ,, '..         , .fQ f ,,,,,,, .                                                                 . .

3. - , n. - ;  ;

                                                                                                                                                                                        .            n.                        - ,y,,-.s . ag,a..,,g,y g4.     ,,g g,y
                                                                                                                                                                                                         -c,..                                                                                                      .               .

w.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          , g%g &
                          ,~                    ~ -
                                                                                                          .L                                              7. _ g. , r 4 ..

• n .m w,x mw

. , -5.

O.~...,..-.1gQ1$..' . .a. _4,&, ,Q.. " awi ' m,;. 2 5 ..l. g nk~w.,h.W,f.~(.$w.,);&. - w s&h, tu -+ r MQth

                                                 .. .n                                                                                   c                                                     v                                                                                                                                                                                .,                                            .

t i 1 i

                             ~

i

                                                  - r.-              *.                                         ;,_..>t                        ,
                                                                                               --.. . ->.r#p{_ .               --

Nge. e._ - -- +_rw__-Ag%e% 4 ,

                                                                 .,,                    .i y wp r                   a s-
                                          - r           , <,r iByv-                              wy
                                                                                                                                ,-                                                                        g94                                  - wrir *O:EtMMiQ f:jgtgyypf,W.y gt i.; y,, , ,

M d , .. . '. r~~~x 4 >

g. .. *j jgr fw 4s%o- .V ;..: _;H,2 i 'n ., qq g,y 4 M"iapreg-et*-j  :- - -p

                                                                                  ,                                                                                                                                                                       v    -

SA,,~ g4 j

                                                        *( #i".

y~ , .-n w,, ,. ,9 .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          -w jn:it-                                                                                                    .
                                                                                              -#           rj "                                                                             "

I

                                         .                                      3 g             cpKms7 n   -

y.~. ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    , . .              WW q

y t p+ u. ah, d' 1,

                                                                                           %                     I.                                  N.                                                                                                               w7 s;   e        4-e i

L G 1 I,B M Z,Q Q Tili) sil W id N, i f O njurg.3 @ilt Wsthme{

                                                                                                                                                                    .                                                                                                                     5
                                                                                                                                                      ; @-S :t JN.;

w G l i ry L p - l Q. L1h I s i siihe  ;~-

                                                                                                                                                                                ;~
                   ,                                                                                              c                '
                   !                                                                                  Q           F                                                                                                                                                                           l
                                                                   .         w3
                                                                                                                  ^

l, . G, , t '. l l g .. i ,;. i.t-r. N4 n v fi' fI g .x r

                      ,                                                                                            1 l
                                            ~.

I p iXQM R$1f W $ t. . g '~- .h K 4 l W- *

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    \

w / f1 \

                                                                                                                                                                                      $ 4  - e..

g . , , 7-/ +. 1 i

                                                                                                                            .-                                                 ~ c               ,           I ;. J p Q,                  4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ; I t                                                                            D                                                                #d,.            [d,'ut:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ,                                               j p4
                                                                                                                                                                                                            .,'.,u s       imM- -

l ((. q.7 (* Y 7 * ~ / * * ' 2,',

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     .         ,, 'J , *, " ( "' ;

cj r,,.9-

                                                                                                                                                 .e . ,m, -#.+,
                                                                                                                                                                               % ,e      c         -

r.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ...*>~.;v *iy,-ei-L dMNkdh  _ _ __
                                                                                                                                                                                                              >---.,I..                 -         . . . -        __

i t (

O O ~O - t i PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS EXAMPLES FOR DISRUPTIVE SCENARIOS 1 i . l PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE TENTATIVE , PROCESS MEASURE PARAMETER GOAL t ! WATER TABLE RADIONUCLIDE MAGNITUDE OF DISTANCE BETWEEN RISE-CLIMATE TRANSPORT RISE FOR REPOSITORY AND } " ] CHANGE . THROUGH UZ 10,000 YRS WATER TABLE > 100m ' i - j l . FAULT OFFSET RADIONUCLIDE PROBABILITY OF < 10-1 ' l CREATES PERCHED TRANSPORT TOTAL OFFSETS WATER OR WATE" THROUGH UZ >.n IN 10,000 YRS TABLE RISE , 1 IGNEOUS RADIONUCLIDE ANNUAL < 10-5/YR f INTRUSION TRANSPORT PROBABILITY OF

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ~

THROUGH UZ INTRUSION WITHIN ~ ~ i 0.5km . . l i ACNW Bilf 6/20/1980

                          ._      _,# -_.____.._   __,-_._,__.,,_._.,._,_.__m_-._.__,-...m,,,                       _ . .. _ .._-.._m,..,           -.m,...      m.__m     , , , _ - _ _ _ _ , , _ . _ . ._ . . . . _,

l O O o . l ' CHANGES TO THE SCP l .~ . l e TEXT WILL BE ADDED TO RELATE TESTING PROGRAM TO ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS

                                                     ~

e SCENARIOS THAT WILL BE TESTED WILL BE MORE CLEARLY EXPLAINED e SCENARIOS THAT HAVE BEEN SCREENED OUT AND THAT WILL - NOT BE TESTED WILL BE EXPLICITLY DISCUSSED . e TEXT WILL BE ADDED TO CLARIFY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN i THE TESTING PROGRAM FOR PROCESSES' AND EVENTS TO THE i SCENARIOS e NO CHANGES TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE SCP DESCRIBED EARLIER . l ACNW.BRF 6/28/1988 E__ __ __ ---___-_---_-_-----------------------n-----------J

O O O CONCLUSIONS e BECAUSE OF FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN CRITERIA, SITE CHARACTERIZATION IS STRUCTURED TO ADDRESS RELEASE SCENARIOS e THE SITE INVESTIGATIONS ALSO NEED TO CONSIDER LEGITIMATE ALTERNATE CONCEPTUAL MODELS .

                                                                ~

e ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES AND SCENARIOS HAVE BEEN SCREENED OUT AND WHICH WILL NOT BE TESTED l WILL ALSO BE DISCUSSED IN THE SCP l e INFORMATION OBTAINED DURING SITE CHARACTERIZATION l WILL BE USED TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER PART!CULAR MODELS CAN BE CONFIRMED OR REMOVED FROM i CONS:DERATION ' l q l l

O O o . 1 DOE BRIEFING TO THE ADVISORY COFMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE 1

SUBJECT:

TRANSLATION OF HYDROLOGIC SETTING TO PERFORMANCE MODELING APPLICATION l DATE: JUNE 28, 1988 f i PRESENTERS: DR. SCOTT SINNGCK I - i i SUPERVISOR: NNWSI PROGRAM INTERFACE PRESENTERS' TITLE / ORGANIZATION: DIVISION, SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES j PRESENTER'S TEL. NO: 1. (505)846-0081 i l l

T r O ~ PRESENTATION TOPICS

• SUMMARIZE GENERAL RELATIONS AMONG DATA GATHERING DATA REDUCTION MODELING AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT MODELING
• DESCRIBE AND SHOW SELECTED EXAMPLES OF THE COMPONENT CONCEPTUAL ELEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT MODELS O

S O COMPONENTS OF CONCEPTUAL MODELS REQUIRING DEFINITION

• PHYSICAL PROCESSES
• PHYSICAL DOMAIN
• GEOMETRY OF UNITS (INCLUDING FAULTS)
• PROPERTY DISTRIBUTIONS WITHIN UNITS
• INITIAL AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
• CALCULATIONAL (NUMERICAL) CONSTRAINTS l

l l O

O O O < a i GEOGRAPHIC ACCOMMODATION OF EVENTS AND PROCESSES 1 I i gEG10NAL SETTING go'OWgs, CUMATE HU44y AC%rg  : PERFORMANCE PHYSICAL DOMAIN (CONTROLLED AREA) . i l l EFFECTS ON EFFECTS ON 1 j BOUNDARY SYSTEM GEOMETRY OR ' I i CONDITIONS MATERIAL PROPERTIES ' (ENERGY AND MASS FLUX) i i i

O CURRENT ASSUMPTIONS (PHYSICAL PnocESSES) DARCY FLOW RICHARD'S EQUATION IN UNSATURATED ZONE

             -     K(f), @(PORE SIZE) "CAPILLARY BUNDLE" t

PRESSURE EQUILIBRIUM PERPENDICULAR TO FLOW (FRACTURE-MATRIX INTERACTIONS)

                   "EFFECTIVE POROSITY" = MOISTURE CONTENT
         *    -    ISOTHERMAL, TRANSIENT OR STEADY STATE, SINGLE O              PHASE (LIQUID)

• POTENTIALLY OVERCONSTRAINING O

F{JCTURE SATURATION CONTOURS C) MATRIX SATURATION CONTCC1S (Q=0.1 mm/yr) (Q=0.1 nun /yr)

                                                                                                                                                                                               ~

B-: B-

                                                                    ~                                          .
    .                                                                                                   _                                                                    0.8 i                                                                                                    ! 5                 0.88                                                             -

h_ 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9

               / / / / /

g

                  - - - - - - -      ,   .             _ _ _ . _ _ _ =

g ' 9,99 om 2d00 400n sono 8002 1852 on 2 don ' 4doo adao adao sooao X(m) X(m) FRACTURE MASS FLUX MATRIX MASS FLUX (Q=0.1 mm/yr) (Q=0.1 mm/yr) o 9

        ~

g- 7 N _AAAAAdisisisggggg

  @-                                                                                                 _$ ~

o h 9

                                                                                                                 !!!!IIiiiiii                                  iigigggg,il E-                                                                                                     $~

I8IIiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiig iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii1 9  : : : : : : : : 11iii iii i ii! 9 IIIIIIIIIIIIIi i1.1I I I i 1.

                                                                                                                 ^
       .id 8 ~ 8 3d d 8 ' 8 GEd I' 3 8 sdad I ' 3 3edad I ' I komo                                          no           ^Eo^'^^En^^                            soao   8 o"                2 "4

x(m) X(m) g

CURRENT ASSUMPTIONS O (Puyszcat Domarn) -  ;

• GEOMETRY OF HYDROLOGIC SYSTEM (IGIS COMPUTER GRAPHICS MODEL)

             -          HYDR 0 STRATIGRAPHY
             -          STRUCTURE
             -          WATER IABLE
              -          PROPERTY-BASED PATTERN RECOGNITION DEFINES UNITS

, )

• DISTRIBUTION OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES l 0 - NON-UNIFORM, HETEROGENEOUS WITHIN UNITS f

                -        GE0 STATISTICS (SPATIAL VARIANCE, COVARIANCE, KRIGING) CAN DESCRIBE VARIABILITY SIMULATION OF INTERPOLATED PROPERTIES
                 -        SCALING EFFECTS ARE NOT WELL KNOWN

• EXAMPLES OF CURRENT "NOMINAL CASE" FOLLOW i

O I

                              --,n--,                 -- - - n.,,n-_,,-,m     n,,,,,,      , -       nn---,m,-wr,-. . -

I o O . A' litt A 1 00

        .600 -                                   Te
        .000=                                                                                                                                _
                                                                                                                                                                               = 1200
                                  ===,,

3S00 -

• m. %

                                                                                         *""""*%                                                                               - 000 i.,,

CMa.

                                                                                                             "'"e.,,,,,,_
                                 'Mgg                                                    ,, ...
        , ,0 0 _    C.4 %      %                  %

DIDmnmm.ML~m% _ . '% .s l ,

                                    -%   s%e.s    =% %,
                                                                      .%       =%
                                                                           % s,*% gg % -%
                                                                                                                                 %-  . s%
                                                                                                                                    =%   -

8" N' ~N N

                                             "%       %         M.    %        %     **%         N       N       *%                   . _%g*%                                                       ""'

il 0 .000 0 1000 2000 3000 .000 $000 r..t 10708 rtti O b--4 w,. ......i. v.n. 250 0 250 SCO 750 10 0 0 W. t . . I

                                                                                                                                    ,,...... .....ii.,,

iic-i .i .. . . c...... i L n .J ,.,..... ....

                                                                         .                                          _..             t...n..

i.e. i " i ,,.. i.' i ,.i. . . . ... ...

                                                                                        ...                          - n. i   -
                                                                                                                                       ..nn. . 0i...

u uJ Mft.'!" '"'" u h J D'il'I' U w.t., t..i. ta.u; !!" :il.'!. .,.. u a J !:'."/.*!.. - i... .... ro. I ta.u) *:":: /.'!"...nn. Ln.) s . . . . t . . ro. __/ o.iu, . i. Oi, Don re.n f ....... O i,t r. ,, v.r68 Enompte of Hy dr ostr atigr ophic

                                                    \\WS"<>                                          Unit f rom Computer Gr aphic s System s6 u s e, ical s ea                           s i tt       soot it.nf se o.wt emmetD A L O 19 9 UNCLASSIFIED                                A                 "2 's O

i

N N ToPOPAM SPRING CAUCO MILLS VITRIC UNIT f , 9 I r, WELDED UNIT . g I I.

                                            ,m           .
                                                              /
                                                                     \

a la

                                                                                                                       .n            .
                                              ,8         .
                                                                                                                           ,8        '
                                                         "i~           7' .                                                                                          "

l" , i. jf , M V

                                                 ...          .,       u         o        ..      ..    ..                   ..              .,     ..          ..      ..                      ..        ..

M ATRII POR D.lTV W atrix POROSITV a C ALICO MILLS g= . ztouvic UNIT < [w . PROW PASS wtLDED UNif l 3 I

                                           .n          .
                                                                                                                      . nsi i                                                                          I
                                                                                                                                                                                                          )

B

                                                                             /         r                              &

g s .. . d \ fx

                                                                       ]                  L                           ls         .

n W M ATRII PORO.lTY M ATRt1 PORO.rTY u u o PROW PASS NoNWELDID UNIT e BULLFR 00 WELDED UNIT EM . EN . Eu I O r 9 s

= .

In. . i I. 3

                                                                               /3_                                   I 3 ,.     .

l i

                                                                            /_         \                                 ..   .

I l . g . .i'

                                              'n Mi e,        u        u        ..

l( u .. \.

                                                                                                                             /             .Il.Jo [ i l I ! ! (. .

u .. .. .. M A, RII PCR O $lTV M ATRII PORO SITY M

                                                                                     ,                 BULLFROC NoNwtLDtD UNIT gm       .
                                                                                     ! :s    .

I ,, . 8 A l, . U

                                                                                                      /           T
                                                                                         %.       u     .

k u .. .. .. M ATRII POR O SITY Figure 5. Histograms of bulk matrix poror:ity for each hydrogeologie unit and their normal distribution curves. These were derived from the calculated means and standard deviations of the sample population represented by the histograms. 9

G Z

                                 ,a ww w v g                         i         i e              ..~ .,     *
                                                                                                                       ~. - i ' ' V V N,6                                       o
                                                                                                                           .                                 .I 1

o 4 L yb u! qw,Gvs%: q u@ t . g z A,-v~7n--;,0W r, - y J , 4 :{:j- 7. pS.f 6; no x, -

                                                                                                             -             w                            A.

u U l.a ~. c 'y.: i Qj! b, , ,, Jgf. p+gQ d'm) ~ su0 U/ s 1 q C, s !

 $                               Nr.nrT -I Y')

fs e , '. t U J m

                                                                                                                                                                                ~
                                                                                   .' , o                                                                                       +

h * ~n#j,r'.' S is T ls.i:5i'~~o) c.$'Y"'V-

                                                                                                                       ~

t r . U. n m o fo ..

 $                               h [ p = Ma +                i s,-                             Ld 3[                                $

e m , n, n.% .I o b o,a' pm >/W?

                                                                                                                                          -           >~ . . . u.              e
                                                                                                                                                                                ~

w H Z Z

 .- O ib                      - b                     N
                                                                                                                                                                  '0-w.,                                           \'s                                        ,'

w

 = m a m dsi
                                  '[ i ,p s , s.
                                                $9?l?w'i e              aw.s e:p' s .o     4e. , ~' m'.                :2":mtx sp                        ..v ?s:. <            u
 ~4                                 '

,N ; \[ ' - . - - b q,.'. , N m.. *t 724 s

                                                                                                                                                 . , a:t' *::

o J e ,=6 . gg 3 y$ D ' '  %  % EE ll!' j{g;7rrc,z.y---'.7t_-1y'7."q%

                                                           & > SiD @ Q @ ! $2E',

e m = $ =q an g su<4yn..e, . _ e o !@ O (' O S s.W~em:ijs: e

n. .'

D ,NY' A *) N # .8 M e o z w

  -a                              i:+p N

w,A

                                         ,v  Nd p ..4';./     .

ys- g,: ..: p'uvm': E

                                                                                                                                       ,,                    p;~

i;n. H E ~;#jj9p'e;'s c L':A:,x,mi i$GG .GGG}G:.GGGGGlG'GG')c

                                                                     %yiniiHMntiiMMMMMipMMMBii.
                                                                                                                                                               .s t',b 'd"            s",',4 wm 3

u. O W i 6 i J i, e e s A l I.

                                                                                                                                            .i I                                                            ,
  <                                                            l                                                                            I b                                                             (

l

                                                                                         .                J, l

i w _.._......A..._!..... .L......_ H

                                                                                         'N-                     :
                                                                                         !                  /,                              l                                     E l
                                                                                 ,4

(

                                                                                                                                .e m         1 G

M

                                                                            .h                                               '      C
                                                                                 . . r----.- / .'-'t r-)[)

_. . .N. . _! . _ ' 4_.! a

                                                                ,                                                                      / ' - - L '. - - - -                       w e                              ' i        e J j' -                 ls                         e i

I - I l,i, -

e

                                                              't ")
                                                                                                                               /-
                                                                                                                   ;C -                       ;

ui Mi x l  ! I I {I; l l l 9

CURRENT ASSUMPTIONS $ FOR BASEL.INE CASE (BOUNDARY CONDITIONS) UNSATURATED ZONE , UPPER BOUNDARY FLUX (VARIABLE) LOWER BOUNDARY ($= 0) SIDE BOUNDARIES (NO FLOW OR FIXED @) GAS PHASE NOT YET INCLUDED SATURATED ZONE , UPPER BOUNDARY (c = 0) (VARIABLE WATER TABLE) LOWER BOUNDARY (NO FLOW OR TRANSIENT SPECIFIED "LEAKAGE" FLUX)

        - SIDE BOUNDARY ( @ FROM REGIONAL MODELING, KRIGING?)

9

R NUMERICAL ACCOMMODATION OF

 $                    DISRUPTIVE SCENARIOS BY MODIFYING BOUNDARY CONDITIONS METHOD (NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS)

• MODIFY WATER IABLE ELEVATION / LOWER SZ HEAD BOUNDARY (TECTONIC SCENARIOS, E.G. "SEISMIC PUMPING", VOLCANISM)
• MODIFY SURFACE INFILTRATION FLUX (CLIMATIC, FLOODING, FAULTING, HUMAN ACTIVITIY SCENARIOS)

O + MODIFY SIDE SZ HEAD BOUNDARY (CLIMATIC, HUMAN ACTIVITY, TECTONIC SCENARIOS) DATA NELDLSC

• MAGNITUDE, FREQUENCY, AND DURATION OF CHANGES PROVIDED BY TECTONIC, CLIMATIC, PROGRAMS IN CONJUNCTION WITH HYDROLOGY, (SITE CHARACTERIZATION MODELS) k

Q MATRIX MASS FLUX O V FRACTURE MASS FLUM'O (Q=1.0 mmfyr) (Q=1.0 mmfyr) l l o 9 3

                 $1    -

e

                          ...........                                                                                                                                         y-o
                                                                                                                                                                              *a E             . . . . . . . . . . ..                                                 u E.                                 ..                                         h y'
          #    o                                               .......                  -

Y . . N(_ . . . *

• y- [<

                                              ***....****.....                        ..                                                                                  I %i
                                                                                                                                                                        <b t                                                                                 . . * '  '*,...**

o t 4 , , ,it 3 I , ,,,. .. O ..... 6 - - . . - * ^ , , . i ' . , , . - i

                                                                         '    ', , ! j '

o ..s- ' _ i i  ; ^ ^ , . ... a

                       "                200.0       400 0        600.0      800.0        1000.0 On         2*o               400.0          600.0         sh0.0            I X(m)                                                                           X(m) o SATURAT10t1 oi 0.1K
                   ~

SATURATIOta 8-o k

                                                          ?S %Lw,n -

x o g o, 0.9 , Y 1 M E w E

            -                                                                                                                                                                   f o                                                       0.1 O

8-

                                                                                                                                                                     .            Q<

h-0.9  % 3mp,p _3 ,. , *- o o M=Wi2000 -s*: i. ':h? ^' . a g ,

• 00 400 0

                                                             ~

yn BdOD 10

• o 0.0 4000 600A gng_g LW X(tu)

X(in) l l

CURRENT NUMERICAL APPROACH

• SOLUTION OF 2ND ORDER PDE'S FOR @ DISTRIBUTION
• SOLUTION OF ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS O 1 l

t - - -

w TRADEOFFS BETWEEN FULL SOLUTIONS O AND SIMPLIFIED APPROXIMATIONS

• CODE DIMENSIONALITY (1D, 20, 3D)
• STEADY STATE VS. TRANSIENT
• MESH SIZE-TIME STEP CONVERGENCE CRITERIA
• TREATMENT OF SPATIAL PROPERTY VARIABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY
• CONSERVATISM vS. REALISM FULL SOLUTIONS REALISTICALLY TREAT PROCESS (PRESSURE CONTINUITY) BUT MAY NOT PRACTICALLY ACCOUNT FOR TRANSIENT RESPONSES, PROPERTY VARIABILITY, AND UNCERTAINTY THROUGHOUT THE DOMAIN i l

ALGEBRAIC SOLUTIONS CAPABLE OF REALISTIC TREATMENT OF PROPERTY VARIABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY (WITHIN LIMITS) BUT MAY VIOLATE PRESSURE CONTINUITY FULL SOLUTIONS OF "REPRESENTATIVE" SUB DOMAINS

USED TO CONSTRAIN INITIAL AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR SIMPLIFIED APPROXIMATIONS OF FLOW THROUGHOUT FULL PHYSICAL DOMAIN O l l

l

     ~

PARAMETER NEEDS FROM SITE CHARACTERIZATION O TO SUPPORT PERFORMANCE MODELING

• NOMINAL CASE BASED ON MEASUREMENTS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF CURRENT SITE CONDITIONS
• DISRUPTIVE SCENARIOS BASED ON MODELING AND INFERENCE BY SITE CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAMS OF POTENTIAL CHANGES IN PARAMETERS DEFINING NOMINAL CASE SCENARIOS ITERATIVELY SELECTED FOR CONSIDERATION AND/OR ANALYSIS OF Q CONSEQUENCES
• VALIDATION OF MODELS BASED ON MEASUREMENTS AND INTERPRETATIONS 1

0F SITE CONDITIONS, LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, NATURAL ANALOGUES . PROCESS OPEN TO PERIODIC PEER REVIEW, PUBLICATION OF TECHNICAL REPORTS O

O Q o , TREATMENT OF PARAMETER UNCERTAINTY SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

• TREAT SENSITIVE INPUT VARIABLES AS RANDOM l

DISTRIBUTIONS

• IDENTIFY MOST INFLUENTIAL VARIABLES UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS
• PROBABALISTIC PREDICTION OF PERFORMANCE MONTE CARLO DIRECT STOCHASTIC SIMULATION t;

O CONCEPTUAL GNCERNS FOR Q GROUNDWATER FLOW (NOMINAL CASE)

• UNSATURATED ZONE FRACTURE FLOW: EXISTENCE, QUANTITY, LOCATIONS
• UNSATURATED AND SATURATED ZONE "MATRIX DIFFUSION"
• SCALAR RELATIONSHIPS
• YAPOR FLUX IN UNSATURATED ZONE l

E

CONCEPTUAL CONCERNS FOR O GROUNDWATER FLOW ~ (DrsnuPTIVE SCENARIOS) o MAGNITUDE, FREQUENCY, DURATION, AND SPATIAL EXTENT OF POTENTIAL CHANGES MATERIAL PROPERTIES BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

• SPECIFIC CONCERNS TECTONIC INFLUENCES (E.G. STRESS-STRAIN CHANGES, THERMAL VARIATIONS, INTRUSIVE BODIES)

Q CLIMATIC INFLUENCES (E.G. LOCAL UZ INFILTRATION, REGIONAL SZ WATER BUDGET) HUMAN INFLUENCES (E.G. WATER WITHDRAWAL, EXPLORATORY DRILLING AT THE STTE, HINING) 1 0

                                               - - - -   - o

O O o . E i TREATMENT OF CONCEPTUAL UNCERTAINTY e LESS AMENABLE TO QUANTIFICATION

• ADDRESSED BY CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTS

                      -        WEIGHTING BY PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT, DELPHI, On BOUNDING CALCULATIONS
                      -        EXTENSIVE DIALOGUE WITH STATE, NRC, EXPERT CONSULTANTS e   VALIDATION OF MODELING APPROACHES CALIBRATION WITH RESPECT TO FIELD OBSERVATIONS

(+, S, s h t61) COMPARISON TO CONTROLLED FIELD EXPERIMENTS ' i COMPARISON TO CONTROLLED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS l PERIODIC FORMAL PEER REVIEW 1

O

SUMMARY

e TOTAL CONCEPTUAL MODEL HAS DISTINCT COMPONENTS - EACH WITH ITS OWN CONCEPTUAL BASIS e TRANSLATING DESCRIPTIVE ASPECTS TO NUMERICAL REPRESENTATIONS REQUIRES EXPLICIT DEFINITIONS OF ASSUMPTIONS IN TERMS OF DEFINING PA.RAMETERS FOR:

               - PHYSICAL PROCESSES
               - PHYSICAL GEOMETRY
               - MATERIAL PROPERTIES O            - BOUNDARY CONDITIONS O

20 l , O-

SUMMARY

(CONTINUED) e RELATION OF NUMERICAL MODELING TO DATA GATHERING INVOLVES ITERATIVE APROACH:

                               -    CONSIDER, EVALUATE, AND EVENTUALLY SELECT ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES FOR ANALYSIS 4                               -

CHARACTERIZE DEFINING MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND BOUNDARIES FOR A NOMINAL CASE Q - CHARACTERIZE POTENTIAL FOR TECTONIC CLIMATIC, HUMAN, AND REPOSITORY l INDUCED CHANGES TO DEFINING i PARAMETERS AND PROCESSES ASSESS POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF THESE CHANGES TO NOMINAL CASE BY NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS l 1 ) i

3 O O O .. U.S. Domestic B ra ss Mill in d ustry 2OO-Series Profitability vs Selected Fortune 500 ind ustries, 1987 7-- e-- E w "~~

                         $4_

e

                 $E                                                                  W/

Computers Metal Prods. Mir Veh & Pts 2OO-Series

• Electronics Metois 500 Median
• Leas than .05 percent; Source: Fortune, (April 25, 1988).

- - - - - _ . - . _ _ . -- . _ _ _- __ - -____ - --__ _ - _ - _ _ _ - _ .}}