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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
We conducted in situ experiments with simulated, i.e., nonradioactive, contact-handled trans-uranic (CH TRU) waste drums at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility for a period of about four years. We performed these tests in two rooms in rock salt, at WIPP, with drums surrounded by crushed salt or 70 wt. % salt/30 wt. % bentonite clay backfills, or partially submerged in a NaCl brine pool. Air and brine temperatures were maintained at ~40°C. These full-scale (210-L drum) experiments provided in situ data on: backfill material moisture-sorption and physical properties in the presence of brine; waste container corrosion adequacy; and, migration of chemical tracers (nonradioactive actinide and fission product simulants) in the near-field vicinity, all as a function of time. Individual drums, backfill, and brine samples were removed periodically for laboratory evaluations. Waste container testing in the presence of brine and brine-moistened backfill materials served as a severe overtest of long-term conditions that could be anticipated in an actual salt waste repository. We also obtained relevant operational-test emplacement and retrieval experience. All test results are intended to support both the acceptance of actual TRU wastes at the WIPP and performance assessment data needs. We provide an overview and technical data summary focusing on the WIPP CH TRU environmental overtests involving ] 74 waste drums in the presence of backfill materials and the brine pool, with posttest laboratory materials analyses of backfill sorbed-moisture content, CH TRU drum corrosion, tracer migration, and associated test observations.