Impacts of an additional exhaust shaft on WIPP performance - 15170
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located in southeastern New Mexico, has been developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the geologic (deep underground) disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste. WIPP performance assessment (PA) demonstrates repository performance from facility closure to 10,000 years after closure. The recent radiological release event at the WIPP site has temporarily halted waste emplacement activities at the facility. A modified ventilation system is envisioned that will provide sufficient airflow necessary for the resumption of full-rate disposal operations in the future. A primary component of the modified ventilation system is an additional exhaust shaft in the north end of the repository. There are four shafts currently in the repository north end, namely a salt handling shaft, an exhaust shaft, a waste shaft, and an air intake shaft. These shafts are combined into a single composite shaft in WIPP PA that captures the combined impacts of all of them. The proposed additional exhaust shaft is combined with the four existing shafts in the repository model to determine its impacts on long-term repository performance. Moreover, mined volume in the repository north end is modified in the repository representation so as to include additional drifts created to access the new shaft. Computed gas and brine flow behaviors corresponding to the repository with the additional exhaust shaft are compared to those obtained in the PA executed for the 2014 Compliance Re-certification Application (the CRA-2014 PA). Results show that the repository with an additional exhaust shaft and drifts yields brine and gas flow behaviors similar to the current repository configuration. It is concluded that WIPP continues to satisfy regulatory compliance limits with the addition of an exhaust shaft and its access drifts, with compliance curves like those found in the CRA-2014 PA for total normalized releases. (authors)