Geomechanical applications for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a research and development facility in bedded salt addressing the technical issues associated with the demonstration of disposal of radioactive waste from the defense programs of the USA. The geomechanical program includes laboratory experimentation, constitutive model and computer code development, and in-situ experimentation. Various material models, including creep for salt, and techniques for predicting room response under thermal and mechanical loads have been developed and are being applied to experiment and facility designs. A Benchmark II study has been conducted to compare the capabilities of nine structural codes to predict response of underground configuration under ambient temperature and with a thermal load of 7.5 W/m2. Parametric studies are being conducted to evaluate optimum room configurations. A series of in situ experiments is the next step towards validating models and predictive techniques. These experiments will be conducted in a facility in southeastern New Mexico mined at a depth of 659 m