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Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

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Response<br />

213<br />

GEOLOGIC CONSIDERATIONS<br />

Contractor reports are available at the Department <strong>of</strong> Energy's (DOE) public document<br />

reading rooms and at DOE <strong>of</strong>fices, and have been since the draft Statement was released for<br />

comment in April, 1979. Reports were prepared by various subcontractors as the "Technical<br />

Support for GEIS (TM Series): <strong>Radioactive</strong> <strong>Waste</strong> Isolation in Geologic Formations" (OWI<br />

1977, 1978) under subcontracts administered by the former Office <strong>of</strong> <strong>Waste</strong> Isolation, Nuclear<br />

Division <strong>of</strong> Union Carbide Corporation. Each report contains numerous reference lists. DOE<br />

believes it to be sufficient for the present Statement to cite these technical support docu-<br />

ments rather than the individual references. The consultants who contributed to the draft<br />

Section 3.1 had the TM Series documents supplied to them as part <strong>of</strong> their data base, but not<br />

all the references cited in the TM Series were cited in the Statement. Several references<br />

have been added and some revisions made. For example, draft Table 3.1.2 (Chemical Composi-<br />

tion by Oxides...) has been revised using a USGS Open-File Report (see reference number 8<br />

in final Appendix B reference list.<br />

Draft p. 3.1.1<br />

Issue<br />

Salt is emphasized because this alternative has received the most study. Other media<br />

and methods should receive adequate scrutiny. (113-EPA)<br />

Response<br />

The Statement points out (draft Section 3.1) that the amount <strong>of</strong> available data on the<br />

various disposal techniques is unbalanced, with more data available for a bedded salt dis-<br />

posal method, and that more study is needed for the other media and methods. Wording has<br />

been modified from a sense <strong>of</strong> "emphasis" to one <strong>of</strong> "treated in more detail." Later revision<br />

for the final statement eliminated this comparison.<br />

Draft p. 3.1.2<br />

Issue<br />

One commenter felt that the four climatic factors listed to be considered in assessing<br />

the long-term isolation are not sufficient; precipitation patterns and man-induced changes<br />

must also be considered. (208-NRC)<br />

Response<br />

The items listed are typical climatic factors that relate to natural surficial proces-<br />

ses as they could affect the depth requirement for a repository. Precipitation patterns,<br />

both temporal and spatial, are characteristic <strong>of</strong> a given area. Because no area is specified

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