PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT-PLANT - FROM REGULATION TO CALCULATION FOR 40-CFR-191.13

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy as a disposal facility for transuranic waste and must comply with several environmental regulations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard for geologic disposal of r adioactive waste (40 CFR 191). Procedures used in recent performance a ssessments for the WIPP to translate regulations into a structure that facilitates quantitative analysis we described. Topics considered inc lude (I) development of a clear conceptual representation for problems that are initially ill-defined, (2) conversion of qualitative guidanc e into numerical calculations, (3) explicit incorporation of different types of uncertainty (i.e., aleatory and epistemic) into analysis out comes, (4) requirements for efficient computation and models at differ ent levels of complexity, (5) use of sensitivity analysis to guide add itional data collection and future calculations, (6) requirements for results to be presented and explained to audiences with different inte rests and levels of sophistication, and (7) ambiguity with respect to final uses of the analysis and its outcomes. The need to address simil ar concepts and problems arises in many analyses.