Subsurface Geotechnical Parameters Report

Abstract

The Yucca Mountain Project is entering a the license application (LA) stage in its mission to develop the nation's first underground nuclear waste repository. After a number of years of gathering data related to site characterization, including activities ranging from laboratory and site investigations, to numerical modeling of processes associated with conditions to be encountered in the future repository, the Project is realigning its activities towards the License Application preparation. At the current stage, the major efforts are directed at translating the results of scientific investigations into sets of data needed to support the design, and to fulfill the licensing requirements and the repository design activities. This document addresses the program need to address specific technical questions so that an assessment can be made about the suitability and adequacy of data to license and construct a repository at the Yucca Mountain Site. In July 2002, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published an Integrated Issue Resolution Status Report (NRC 2002). Included in this report were the Repository Design and Thermal-Mechanical Effects (RDTME) Key Technical Issues (KTI). Geotechnical agreements were formulated to resolve a number of KTI subissues, in particular, RDTME KTIs 3.04, 3.05, 3.07, and 3.19 relate to the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of the host rock (NRC 2002, pp. 2.1.1-28, 2.1.7-10 to 2.1.7-21, A-17, A-18, and A-20). The purpose of the Subsurface Geotechnical Parameters Report is to present an accounting of current geotechnical information that will help resolve KTI subissues and some other project needs. The report analyzes and summarizes available qualified geotechnical data. It evaluates the sufficiency and quality of existing data to support engineering design and performance assessment. In addition, the corroborative data obtained from tests performed by a number of research organizations is presented to reinforce conclusions derived from the pool of data gathered within a full QA-controlled domain. An evaluation of the completeness of the current data is provided with respect to the requirements for geotechnical data to support design and performance assessment.