Radioactive
Waste Isolation
The Yucca Mountain Project is a US Department
of Energy project to establish a repository for highly radioactive spent
fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors. The geologic host rock at the
site is volcanic tuff. I worked on the Yucca Mountain Project from
its inception in 1977 until 1981. I was abruptly terminated from the project
when I submitted for publication a scientific article pointing out the problem
of zeolite stability if heat generating wastes were to be emplaced
below the water table at the site. The paper was published in Journal of
Geology in 1981 and reprints
are available.
I maintain an active
interest in the Yucca Mountain Project and the problem of radioactive waste
in general. I have given several lectures on the subject, and a set of lecture
notes
for a recent talk is availaible.
I have also put together an informal critique of the Project called
"What's
wrong with Yucca Mountain?"