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The safety of repositories for highly radioactive wastes

Charles M. Koplik, Maureen F. Kaplan, and Benjamin Ross*

Charles M. Koplik, Maureen F. Kaplan, and Benjamin Ross*

  • The Analytic Sciences Corporation, One Jacob Way, Reading, Massachusetts 01867

  • *Present address: 728 Third St. SW, Washington, D.C. 20024.
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Rev. Mod. Phys. 54, 269 – Published 1 January, 1982

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.54.269

Abstract

Many authors have studied the safety of disposal of highly radioactive wastes in excavated cavities beneath the earth. Work has been concentrated in three areas: prediction of future events and processes which could affect waste containment, mathematical modeling of failure scenarios, and estimation of uncertainties in model predictions. The results of past safety assessments are reviewed and compared in this paper. Anything but a very small release of radioactivity from a repository would appear to be quite unlikely; a quantitative evaluation of the probabilities of small releases has not proved possible.

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Rev. Mod. Phys. 54, 269– Published 1 January, 1982

    © 1982 American Physical Society

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