Safety assessment of near surface radioactive waste disposal facilities: Model intercomparison using simple hypothetical data (Test Case 1). First report of NSARS. Part of the co-ordinated research programme on the safety assessment of near surface radioactive waste disposal facilities (NSARS)

摘要

In many countries near surface disposal is the preferred option for the comparatively large volumes of low and intermediate level wastes which arise during nuclear power plant operations, nuclear fuel reprocessing and also for the wastes arising from radionuclide applications in hospitals and research establishments. Near surface disposal is also widely practised in the case of hazardous wastes from chemical industries. It is obviously necessary to show that waste disposal methods are safe and that both man and the environment will be adequately protected. Following a previous related Co-ordinated Research Programme (CRP) on ''Migration and Biological Transfer of Radionuclides from Shallow Land Burial'' during 1985 to 1989 (IAEA-TECDOC-579, Vienna, 1990), the issue of reliability of safety assessments was identified as an important topic for further support and development. A new CRP was formulated with the acronym NSARS (Near Surface Radioactive Waste Disposal Safety Assessment Reliability Study). This technical document is the first report of from the CRP and contains the intercomparison of results of the first test exercise (Test Case 1) on modelling of potential radiation exposures as a result of near surface disposal. Test Case 1 is based on entirely hypothetical data and includes consideration of exposures due to leaching and as a result of human intrusion into the site. Refs, figs and tabs. (Atomindex citation 27:048629)