In situ testing program at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

The Waste Isolation Plant (WIPP) was created by the US Department of Energy as a research and development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of defense-related radioactive wastes. The WIPP, by Public Law 96-164, is authorized to investigate and develop the technology required for the long-term isolation of transuranic (TRU) wastes in a geologic repository of rock salt. The WIPP nuclear waste technology experimental program was established to investigate phenomena associated with emplacing radioactive wastes in a rock-salt environment. The in situ testing program is an integral part of the WIPP experimental program. Conducted by the nuclear waste technology department of Sandia National Laboratories, the in situ testing program collects site-specific data from experiments based in the host rock. The data are then used to evaluate and revise the constitutive models and predictive techniques intended to assess the long-term (up to 10,000 years) performance of the waste repository. Laboratory and theoretical studies began in 1975, while the in situ testing program began in 1984 with the opening of the underground experimental area. The design concepts of the WIPP in situ tests were developed to validate the laboratory and theoretical studies. The tests are based on data from earlier field tests, computer models, and on the many requirements established for the WIPP performance assessment