Relevance of biotic pathways to the long-term regulation of nuclear waste disposal. A report on Tasks 1 and 2 of Phase I. [Shallow land burial]

Abstract

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Survey of statistical and sampling needs for environmental monitoring of commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities

“…~1ost of the useful forecasts will likely take a "what if" or "scenario" point of view. Some examples are available in a study of biotic pathways (McKenzie et al 1982). There are, of course, many more facets to the analysis of long-term forecasting, especially in reference to requirements for ultimate decommissioning of a waste repository (some recent experience is summarized by Phillips et al 1980).…”

Long-term protection of uranium mill tailings

“…Initially, biological factors were thought to be a minor problem. As investigations of low-level waste burial sites were conducted, however, the effects of biological factors, especially over the long term, became more apparent (McKenzie et al 1982). While not all of the biological factors important to low-level waste are relevant to uranium mill tailings, an appreciation of the processes and concepts is useful for designing containment systems intended to function for hundreds of years.…”

“…Biota can increase the probability of contaminant escape by altering the cover system. Burrowing of animals and penetration of plant roots in the soil cover result in a series of tunnels and chambers that may promote the escape of radon gas (Wullstein 1978;McKenzie et al 1982). As an indication of how extensive burrowing can be, approximately two miles of pocket gopher tunnels were estimated over a low-level waste burial site at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Hakanson, Martinez, and White 1982).…”

“…Active transport can be evaluated by computer programs such as BIOPORT (McKenzie et al 1982), which takes both plants and animals into consideration, and is flexible enough to account for various plant and aminal communities, plant succession, and animal activity over time. Secondary transport must be qualitatively evaluated, as no computational models yet exist.…”