Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case

Geoff A. Freeze, Emily Stein, Patrick V. Brady, Carlos Lopez, David Sassani, Karl Travis, Fergus Gibb and John Beswick
Additional contact information
Geoff A. Freeze: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Emily Stein: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Patrick V. Brady: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Carlos Lopez: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
David Sassani: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Karl Travis: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
Fergus Gibb: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
John Beswick: Marriott Drilling Group, Chesterfield S45 9BQ, UK

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: The safety case for deep borehole disposal of nuclear wastes contains a safety strategy, an assessment basis, and a safety assessment. The safety strategy includes strategies for management, siting and design, and assessment. The assessment basis considers site selection, pre-closure, and post-closure, which includes waste and engineered barriers, the geosphere/natural barriers, and the biosphere and surface environment. The safety assessment entails a pre-closure safety analysis, a post-closure performance assessment, and confidence enhancement analyses. This paper outlines the assessment basis and safety assessment aspects of a deep borehole disposal safety case. The safety case presented here is specific to deep borehole disposal of Cs and Sr capsules, but is generally applicable to other waste forms, such as spent nuclear fuel. The safety assessments for pre-closure and post-closure are briefly summarized from other sources; key issues for confidence enhancement are described in greater detail. These confidence enhancement analyses require building the technical basis for geologically old, reducing, highly saline brines at the depth of waste emplacement, and using reactive-transport codes to predict their movement in post-closure. The development and emplacement of borehole seals above the waste emplacement zone is also important to confidence enhancement.

Keywords: boreholes; safety case; performance assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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