Hydrology and Geochemistry of Yucca Mountain and Vicinity, Southern Nevada and California

Abstract

John S. Stuckless Editor GSA Memoir 209 (Stuckless, 2012) summarizes over 20 years of site characterization conducted as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's work to determine the suitability of Yucca Mountain for storing high-level nuclear waste. Memoir 209 is a companion volume to an earlier publication Memoir 199, The Geology and Climatology of Yucca Mountain and Vicinity, Southern Nevada and California , edited by Stuckless and Levich (2007), which summarized the background information and set the stage for Memoir 209. Memoir 209 reports the field observations and model simulations carried out in support of the construction license for the Yucca Mountain Program. This well-written compendium summarizes a vast number of studies on hydrology and geochemistry and develops a working conceptual model of the site, although the conceptual models do not always correspond with some of the models used by the U.S. Department of Energy in support of a License Application for Construction Authorization (U.S. Department of Energy, 2008). If there is one shortfall for this Memoir, it is that a few of the summaries do not include a discussion of uncertainties, shortcomings, or rationales for the numerical models selected or why experiments were performed. This is understandable in some cases because including significant detail would produce an unwieldy tome that would likely be too long to be read by many. But there are cases outlined below where additional detail, if only a paragraph or two, would have greatly benefited the reader in providing context for interpreting the results and understanding the courses of action taken. This is particularly true for a GSA Memoir. Chapter 1 provides the background information for the Yucca Mountain project including a brief …