A Description and Status of the Yucca Mountain Project Repository Sealing Program

by Joseph A. Fernandez, Sandia Natl Lab, United States,
Thomas E. Hinkebein, Sandia Natl Lab, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Level Radioactive Waste Management 1990

Abstract:

Yucca Mountain is being characterized to determine its suitability as a site for a high-level nuclear waste repository. The repository would be located in the unsaturated zone in fractured, welded tuff. Sealing of the repository is one element of the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). This paper presents a brief description of the repository sealing program including the sealing design options, design requirements, design constraints, and the identification of the proposed sealing materials and field tests. Design options for the shafts include anchor-to-bedrock seals, shaft fill, and settlement plugs; in the underground facility options include drift seals, drainage channels, sumps, and bulkheads. Design requirements are those quantitative requirements imposed on the sealing design options to achieve a desired level of performance. Constraints are restrictions placed on the repository design by the sealing design. As (1) additional hydrogeologic data are obtained through site characterization, (2) approaches to allocating performance to various subsystems within the YMP are refined, and (3) the exploratory shafts and the associated testing results are developed, the design requirements and constraints may be modified and used in developing the License Application Design.

Subject Headings: Sealing | Radioactive wastes | Recycling | Field tests | Waste disposal | Shafts | Project management

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