Strategy for identifying natural analogs of the long-term performance of low-level waste disposal sites

The US Department of Energy's Low-Level Waste (LLW) Management Program has asked Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to explore the feasibility of using natural analogs of anticipated waste site and conditions to help validate predictions of the performance of LLW disposal sites. Current regulations require LLW facilities to control the spread of hazardous substances into the environment for at least the next 500 years. Natural analog studies can provide information about processes affecting waste containment that cannot be fully explored through laboratory experimentation and modeling because of the extended period of required performance. For LLW applications, natural analogs include geochemical systems, pedogenic (soil formation) indicators, proxy climate data, and ecological and archaeological settings that portray long-term changes in disposal site environments and the survivability of proposed waste containment materials and structures. Analog data consist of estimates of performance assessment (PA) model input parameters that define possible future environmental states of waste sites, validation parameters that can be predicted by PA models, and descriptive information that can build public confidence in waste disposal practices. This document describes PNL's overall stategy for identifying analogs for LLW disposal systems, reviews lessons learned from past analogs work, outlines the findings of the workshop, and presentsmore » examples of analog studies that workshop participants found to be applicable to LLW performance assessment. The lessons from the high-level waste analogs experience and workshop discussions will be used to develop detailed study plans during FY 1990. 39 refs.« less