Before disposing of transuranic radioactive waste in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the United States Department of Energy (DOE) must evaluate compliance with applicable long-term regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Sandia National Laboratories is conducting iterative performance assessments (PAs) of the WIPP for the DOE to provide interim guidance while preparing for a final compliance evaluation. This volume of the 1992 PA contains results of uncertainty and sensitivity analyses with respect to the EPA`s Environmental Protection Standards for Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes (40 CFR 191, Subpart B). Additional information about the 1992 PA is provided in other volumes. Results of the 1992 uncertainty and sensitivity analyses indicate that, conditional on the modeling assumptions, the choice of parameters selected for sampling, and the assigned parameter-value distributions, the most important parameters for which uncertainty has the potential to affect compliance with 40 CFR 191B are: drilling intensity, intrusion borehole permeability, halite and anhydrite permeabilities, radionuclide solubilities and distribution coefficients, fracture spacing in the Culebra Dolomite Member of the Rustler Formation, porosity of the Culebra, and spatial variability of Culebra transmissivity. Performance with respect to 40 CFR 191B is insensitive …

Volume II contains: environmental consequences, part D which includes environmental impacts of the proposed actions and alternatives for the proposed Central Gulf sale 147 and for the proposed Western Gulf sale 150; consultation and coordination; bibliography and special references; preparers; glossary; and appendices.

This is the fourteenth in a series of semiannual technical progress reports on fusion reactor materials. These activities are concerned principally with the effects of the neutronic and chemical environment on the properties and performance of reactor materials; together they form one element of the overall materials programs being conducted in support of the Magnetic Fusion Energy Program of the US Depart of Energy. The other major element of the program is concerned with the interactions between reactor materials and the plasma and is reported separately. Separate abstracts were prepared for each individual section.

Volume 2 contains Appendices and Summary Sheets for the following areas: A-Legislative Background and Key to Relevant Legislation, B- Biomonitoring Operations Workbook, C-Air Monitoring, D-Introduction to the Flora and Fauna for Biomonitoring, E-Decontamination Guidance Reference Field Methods, F-Documentation Guidance, Sample Handling, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control Standard Operating Procedures, G-Field Instrument Measurements Reference Field Methods, H-Ground Water Sampling Reference Field Methods, I-Sediment Sampling Reference Field Methods, J-Soil Sampling Reference Field Methods, K-Surface Water Reference Field Methods. Appendix B explains how to set up strategy to enter information on the ``disk workbook``. Appendix B is enhanced by DE97006389, an on-line workbook for users to be able to make revisions to their own biomonitoring data.

Earlier this year the Senate Intelligence Committee began to receive reports from environmental and nuclear scientists in Russia detailing the reckless nuclear waste disposal practices, nuclear accidents and the use of nuclear detonations. We found that information disturbing to say the least. Also troubling is the fact that 15 Chernobyl style RBMK nuclear power reactors continue to operate in the former Soviet Union today. These reactors lack a containment structure and they`re designed in such a way that nuclear reaction can actually increase when the reactor overheats. As scientists here at the University of Alaska have documented, polar air masses and prevailing weather patterns provide a pathway for radioactive contaminants from Eastern Europe and Western Russia, where many of these reactors are located. The threats presented by those potential radioactive risks are just a part of a larger Arctic pollution problem. Every day, industrial activities of the former Soviet Union continue to create pollutants. I think we should face up to the reality that in a country struggling for economic survival, environment protection isn`t necessarily the high priority. And that could be very troubling news for the Arctic in the future.

This performance assessment characterized plausible treatment options conceived by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) for its spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste and then modeled the performance of the resulting waste forms in two hypothetical, deep, geologic repositories: one in bedded salt and the other in granite. The results of the performance assessment are intended to help guide INEL in its study of how to prepare wastes and spent fuel for eventual permanent disposal. This assessment was part of the Waste Management Technology Development Program designed to help the US Department of Energy develop and demonstrate the capability to dispose of its nuclear waste. Although numerous caveats must be placed on the results, the general findings were as follows: Though the waste form behavior depended upon the repository type, all current and proposed waste forms provided acceptable behavior in the salt and granite repositories.

The purpose of this Document is to provide a source of ecological information based on the exiting knowledge gained from research conducted at the Savannah River Site. This document provides a summary and synthesis of ecological research in the three main ecosystem types found at SRS and information on the threatened and endangered species residing there.