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

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262<br />

GEOLOGIC CONSIDERATIONS<br />

tectonic activity and look for areas <strong>of</strong> stability, such as some <strong>of</strong> the salt basins which<br />

contain salt that has been in existence and essentially undisturbed for several million to<br />

hundreds <strong>of</strong> millions years.<br />

Issue<br />

The effectiveness <strong>of</strong> the host rock to act as a barrier is dependent upon site-specific<br />

parameters and cannot be attested to at this time. (43, 97)<br />

Response<br />

A potential host rock has certain physical properties that make it favorable for a<br />

repository host rock. These properties are inherent in the rock and are typical <strong>of</strong> the<br />

rock. The geologic setting may contain elements related to structure, seismicity, physio-<br />

graphy, etc. that modify the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> the site at a given location. The site selec-<br />

tion process will seek out sites that are not modified by these elements and where the host<br />

rock properties will be intact.<br />

Issue<br />

If the repository were located in a salt bed, the ground-water would first have to dis-<br />

solve tremendous quantities <strong>of</strong> salt prior to picking up and transporting the small amount<br />

<strong>of</strong> radioactive material remaining after 600 years. Would not the salt do far more damage<br />

to the environment and the local hydrology in particular than the small quantity <strong>of</strong> trans-<br />

uranics within the facility? Is not worrying about reprocessed nuclear waste beyond<br />

600 years in a salt bed akin to worrying about arsenic being spiked with traces <strong>of</strong> a poison?<br />

Please discuss this concept in your draft. (178)<br />

Response<br />

Should ground-water contact a salt bed containing a nuclear waste repository, long<br />

times and large quantities <strong>of</strong> water would be required to uncover the waste. The ground<br />

water leaving the repository would be saturated with salt and would have to be diluted about<br />

300 to 1 in order to be potable. The damage to the environment from both the salt and the<br />

radionuclides is expected to be small. Which is smaller depends on the conditions <strong>of</strong> the<br />

scenario and the definition <strong>of</strong> "damage".<br />

Issue<br />

One commenter mentioned that the Sierra Club Bulletin asserts: "The temperature within<br />

the (salt) repository may reach 300 0 C. Water, in the form <strong>of</strong> liquid and vapor, is drawn<br />

towards the heat source in a salt repository...This hot brine solution is acidic and very<br />

corrosive. According to EPA, the canisters would be breached in a decade or less" (Sierra<br />

July/August 1979, p. 51). The data relied on in the draft Statement are taken at room tem-<br />

perature. (153)

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