Radioactive waste isolation in salt: peer review of the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology's report on the Petrographic, Stratigraphic, and Structural Evidence for Dissolution of Upper Permian Bedded Salt, Texas Panhandle

Abstract

Documents are being submitted to the Salt Repository Project Office (SRPO) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by Battelle Memorial Institute's Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation, by the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology (TBEG), and by other contractors to satisfy milestones of the Salt Repository Project of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. Some of these documents are being reviewed by multiclisciplinary groups of peers to ensure DOE of their adequacy and credibility. Adequacy of documents refers to their ability to meet specified legal or regulatory requirements. Credibility of documents refers to the validity of the assumptions, methods, and conclusions, as well as to the completeness of coverage. Since late 1982, Argonne National Laboratory has been under contract to DOE to conduct multidisciplinary peer reviews of program plans and reports covering research and development activities related to siting and constricting a mined repository in salt for high-level radioactive waste. The present report summarizes Argonne's review of TBEG's report entitled Petrographies, Stratigraphic,