Research
Funded Research
U.S. EPA Performance Assessment of WIPP
Dr. Thomas Kirchner, of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (CEMRC), operated under the College of Engineering’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, is currently helping Sandia National Laboratories conduct performance assessment (PA) of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated Compliance Recertification Application (CRA). WIPP is the only deep geological nuclear waste repository in the world. A CRA must be submitted every five years showing that the projected releases from the WIPP over the next 10,000 years fall below the regulatory limits specified by EPA. Kirchner is involved with performing uncertainty analyses and sensitivity analyses on the PA models, validating the models and other computer programs used in PA, and in designing and implementing a system to store and retrieve code and results under quality assurance requirements. Sandia National Laboratories recently awarded an increase of $130,000 for this project; this award now totals $717,485.