CURRENT ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WIPP COMMITTEE

摘要

The National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciencesrn(NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and Institute of Medicine (IOM) hasrnconducted a committee study of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) WasternIsolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) since 1978. The WIPP Committee has issued two majorrnreports in 1984 and 1996 and eight shorter reports between 1979 and 1992, allrncommenting on site characterization, research, testing, and modeling efforts undertakenrnduring those years to gain understanding of the viability and long-term performance of arnWIPP repository. After the 1996 report, the technical issues for this committee to mostrneffectively address in future reports was expanded, resulting in the current task statementrnand composition of committee membership. The WIPP Committee is currently gatheringrninformation in support of its future report(s) on (1) meritorious geotechnical researchrnactivities to continue during an operational disposal phase of a WIPP repository, and (2)rnimprovements to the National TRU Program, which is the engineering system to managernWIPP-bound transuranic (TRU) wastes.