Radioactive waste isolation in salt: peer review of the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation's Geochemical Program Plan

Describe the management program for coordinating subcontractors and their work, and integrating research results. Appropriate flowcharts should be included. Provide more information on the overall scope of the program. For each subcontractor, provide specific workscopes that indicate whether analytical activities are developmental or routine, approximate number of analyses to be made, and something of the adequacy of the analyses to meet program goals. Indicate interfaces with other earth-science disciplines like hydrology and with other groups doing relevant geochemical research and engineering design. Address the priorities for each activity or group of activities. High priority should be given to early development of a geochemical statement of what constitutes suitable salt for a repository. Reference standard procedures for sampling, sample preservation, and sample analysis wherever appropriate or, if not appropriate, indicate that any deviations from standard procedures will be documented. Ensure that appropriate quality assurance procedures will be followed for the procedures listed above. Include specific procedures for the choice, verification, validation, and documentation of computer codes related to the geochemical aspects of repository performance assessment. Include activities addressing regional hydrochemistry and make clear that each principal hydrogeologic unit at each site will be studied geochemically. Indicate that proposed plans for obtaining hydrogeochemical data will be included in each site characterization plan. Describe how site geochemical stability will be handled, especially with respect to dissolution, postemplacement geochemistry, human influences, and climatic variations. Minor recommendations and suggested improvements in the text of the plan are given in Sec. 5