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Improved Methods of Long-Term Verification and Risk Assessment

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TTP#: AL2-1-SS22
Project Overview
Long-term cover systems are needed at DOE complexes to assist in isolating contaminants and waste that have migrated into the subsurface near landfills, waste disposal sites, and high-level waste tanks. To meet the long-term needs of designers, regulators, and involved stakeholders, a probabilistic, risk-based approach must be integrated into the design, modeling, and selection of long-term covers, considering regulatory requirements, environmental settings, site-specific features, events, and processes, engineering design parameters, and long-term verification and monitoring requirements. The result of this approach should yield affordable and regulatory-acceptable design alternatives for long-term covers.

Technology Description
Developing an integrated approach for probabilistic, risk-based performance assessment (PA) of long-term cover systems is the objective. The approach consists of two primary tasks: (a) development and implementation of an integrated total-system PA model and (b) development and implementation of sub-system process models (e.g., infiltration, percolation, contaminant transport, etc.). The first task develops the framework which integrates PA with engineering activities to assess and evaluate alternative cover designs based on probabilistic, risk-based calculations that address uncertainties within the system. The evaluation of the impacts of these uncertainties on risk or regulatory compliance will provide the foundation for choosing a cost-effective design approach while allowing the site owner to prioritize the value of additional monitoring and site characterization efforts. The second task produces the sub-system models that are used by the integrated PA model. Site-specific processes that influence long-term performance are included in the sub-system models, which will be implemented and combined to provide the basis for the integrated PA model. A third task includes non-technical administrative tasks that focus on selecting and applying site-specific performance assessment analyses to develop a general framework and tool that can be used for other DOE complexes.

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