Publications Details
Background information presented to the expert panel on inadvertent human intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is planned as a mined geologic repository for the disposal of transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes generated by defense programs of the United States Department of Energy. One of the criteria for evaluating the suitability of the WIPP for disposal of TRU wastes is compliance with the United States Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) standards for such facilities. The Containment Requirements of those standards require calculating cumulative releases of radionuclides to the accessible environment by all combinations of events and processes (scenarios) that may affect the escape and transport of radionuclides from the repository for 10, 000 years after decommissioning of the facility. Because the release limits established by the EPA are probabilistic, scenario probabilities are also required. A panel of experts was convened to estimate the probabilities of occurrence of the events used in scenario development and to identify additional human-intrusion events for inclusion in a safety assessment of the WIPP. This report documents the background presentations that were made to the panel about the WIPP program, regulatory guidelines, and performance-assessment program, and site-specific and regional geologic and hydrologic characteristics that may affect the WIPP disposal system.