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Selected Current and Past Projects
Please click on the links for more details
• RISK ASSESSMENT WITH
..STAKEHOLDER INTERACTIONS
• SAFETY ASSESSMENT FOR L/ILW FACILITY
• IEA WEYBURN CO2 MONITORING
..AND STORAGE PROJECT
• INTERNATIONAL HIGH-LEVEL
..WASTE PROGRAMS
YUCCA MOUNTAIN ANALYSIS
Monitor Scientific conducts and coordinates the Total System
Performance
Assessment for Yucca Mountain using an event tree
approach for the
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which includes:
.......• Waste package interactions
.......• Radionuclide mobilization and release
.......• Biosphere analysis
.......• Waste canister performance
.......• Radionuclide transport in the near- and far-fields
.......• Scenario analysis (igneous, seismic, deliquescence, climate)
Issues also studied by the MSCI staff include:
.......• Innovative, robust engineered barrier design
........ (capillary or Richards barrier)
.......• Extended capacity repository designs
Past experience in Yucca Mountain includes consultancy to the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Nuclear Waste Technical
Review Board (NWTRB), and National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Yucca Mountain repository and total system
performance assessment (TSPA)
RISK ASSESSMENT WITH STAKEHOLDER INTERACTIONS
Monitor Scientific, in concert with team partners, has developed
a
methodology to improve participation of stakeholders in the risk
assessment process. A decision analysis methodology was
implemented to integrate the assessment of major risk and impact
factors and the input from stakeholders, leading to defensible
decisions regarding remediation actions for a toxic waste disposal
site operated by Department of Energy (DOE).
Project components
SAFETY ASSESSMENT FOR L/ILW FACILITY
Monitor Scientific has been contracted by Korean Hydro and Nuclear
Power (KHNP) to provide independent technical support for the safety assessment of Korea’s repository for intermediate and low-level
radioactive wastes. Monitor’s safety assessment analyses are being
used as independent confirmation of the license application being
prepared by KHNP.
Conceptual model illustration of the safety assessment
of the rock cavern repository for Korean’s L/ILW
IEA WEYBURN CO2 MONITORING AND STORAGE PROJECT
Monitor Scientific has been involved in geological CO2 storage projects
for almost 10 years, and was a Research Provider in Phase 1 of the
IEA (International Energy Agency) Weyburn CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project, located at Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada. In this project,
CO2 from a North Dakota Gasification Plant is being transported and
injected into the Weyburn oil field for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
During the 4-year Phase 1 stage, Monitor Scientific conducted risk assessments using a methodology involving systems analysis similar
to that used in the geological disposal of nuclear waste, together with
a hybrid of probabilistic and deterministic simulations of CO2 migration
along natural and man-made pathways, followed by environmental
consequence analysis.
Slides showing the IEA Weyburn CO2 Storage and Monitoring Projects
INTERNATIONAL HIGH-LEVEL WASTE PROGRAMS
Monitor Scientific supports HLW programs in many countries including
Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Finland, Taiwan, Germany, France, Spain, South Korea, as well as international organizations such as the
NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency), and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). Monitor Scientific provides consultancy and solutions unique
to the client countries by taking into account differences in waste forms,
disposal concepts, site characteristics, regulatory status, and public
opinion. Activities include:
.......• Performance assessment methodologies and
.........model/software development
.......• Regulatory reviews and assessment
.......• Scenario development and analysis
............• Formal FEP & scenario development techniques
............• Traceable and justifiable scenario development
............• Addressing stakeholder issues
.......• Innovative disposal concepts
............• CAvern REtrieval (CARE)
............• Integrated Waste Packages
............• High-isolation sites
.......• QA software
.......• Geochemical and geostatistical analysis
.........of waste-water-rock interactions
.......• Technical workshops and training
H12 Disposal Concept, Japan
INTERNATIONAL LOW-LEVEL WASTE PROGRAMS
Monitor Scientific’s expertise in LLW management has been used
to provide consultancy to clients in a variety of countries (Japan,
S. Korea, Russia, South Africa, Canada) as well as technical
support
to IAEA. Topics covered include:
.......• Waste acceptance criteria
.......• Development and evaluation of disposal concepts
.......• Safety assessment model/software development
.......• Scenario analysis
.......• Identification of exposure pathways
.......• Treatment of uncertainties
.......• Participation in ISAM (IAEA program on the Improvement of
........ Safety Assessment Methodologies for Near-Surface Radioactive
........ Waste Disposal Facilities) and ASAM (IAEA program Application
........ of Safety Assessment Methodology)
The ISAM vault test case
Monitor Scientific has also provided technical consultancy covering
additional topics of relevance to LLW management:
.......• Technical basis for regulatory criteria governing LLW disposal
.......• Clearance of decommissioning wastes
.......• Management of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) wastes
ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER DATA
Monitor Scientific has successfully applied Principal Component
Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA)
to hydrochemical data from over 15,000 groundwater samples
to categorize representative groundwater bodies in Japan.
Slides showing the PCA analysis of groundwater data
Tel: (303) 985-0005 • Fax: (303) 980-5900
Copyright 2007 © Monitor Scientific, LLC.