REEVALUATING TRANSURANIC WASTE CHARACTERIZATION FOR THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT

ABSTRACT Waste destined for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) must undergo thorough and costly characterization prior to transportation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) evaluates waste characterization performed to meet requirements that were identified as important to the long-term repository performance. The EPA characterization requires identifying the amounts of Cellulosic, Plastic, and Rubber (CPR) materials, metals, and free water in the waste as well as the waste activity and surface dose rate. CPR materials were identified as impactful to the long-term performance of the WIPP repository. This paper investigates the performance of the WIPP in situations where the amount of CPR is significantly increased. The results of this analysis show that the characterization requirement of determining the amount of CPR on each individual waste container could be reevaluated. If the current CPR characterization plan was modified based on analysis results, significant cost savings could be achieved. A cost-benefit analysis could be performed to determine if the amount of money saved from the reduced characterization required outweighs the cost of the additional MgO that would need to be emplaced to ensure sufficient quantities are present in the repository.