Nuclear Waste Disposal: The Interface Between Performance Assessment and Research

ABSTRACTThe potential impact of the post-closure phase of a nuclear fuel waste disposal project is radiation dose to man. Radiation dose is estimated as the end product of a total systems analysis. Field and laboratory research must be assimilated in a form that can be accepted by the total systems analysis procedure. A central focus of this assimilation must be the consideration of uncertainties in the analysis and data used. Irreducible uncertainty arises because of the wide variability in natural systems and the unprecedented extrapolation into the distant future. The SYVAC computer program provides a framework for assimilation of the results of the field and laboratory research with a systematic treatment of uncertainty. A SYVAC assessment of the post-closure performance of a Canadian nuclear waste disposal facility is presented with particular illustrations of the interface between the assessment models and data and the field and laboratory research.