1983 Subseabed Disposal Program: Site Assessment Studies. Annual Report, October 1982-September 1983

摘要

The Subseabed Disposal Program (SDP) is evaluating the technical, environmental, and engineering feasibility of disposing of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) beneath the seafloor. In conjunction with this feasibility evaluation, the Site Assessment Program has the responsibility of identifying and characterizing marine geological formations as potential subseabed HLW repository locations. This process is predicated on continued evaluation and reassessment of the geological characteristics as the necessary requirements for a candidate location become better defined through the combined efforts of various SPD task groups. A site qualification plan was developed to ensure an orderly and systematic evaluation of the geological environments present in the ocean basins. This plan is based on two criteria, stability and barrier, and outlines the methodology that is necessary and adequate to evaluate a potential subseabed repository location. The stability criterion includes those factors that may affect the integrity of a subseabed repository during its lifetime. Examples of favorable factors and characteristics that comply with the stability criterion include a long, continuous history of sediment deposition; limited and predictable volcanic and seismic activity; and a predictable response to major climatic and oceanographic changes. The barrier criterion includes those factors that act to impede the migration of radionuclides through the sedimentary section. In the subseabed disposal concept, the sedimentary section is the primary barrier to radionuclide migration. (ERA citation 10:048268)