Interim reclamation report: Basalt Waste Isolation Project exploration shaft site [report]

C.A. Brandt, W.H. Jr. Rickard, M.G. Hefty
1990 unpublished
In 1968, a program was srarted to assess the feasibility ci storing Hanford Site defense waste in deep caverns constructed in basa.l.t. This program was expanded in 1976 to include investigations of the Hanford Site as a potential location for a mined commercial nuclear waste repository. Extensive studies of the geotechnical aspects of the site were undertaken, including preparations for drilling a large diameter (2.8 m) Exploratory Shaft to a depth of 1158 m. On December 22, 1987, President
more » ... gan signed into law the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, which effectively stopped all repository-related activities except reclamation of disturbed lands at the Hanford Site. This repon describes the development of the reclamation program for the Exploratory Shaft Facility, its implementation, and preliminary estimates of its success. The goal of the reclamation program is to return sites disturbed by the repository program as nearly as practicable to their original conditions using native plant species.
doi:10.2172/7027879 fatcat:ece4gfhnbjeszhvtuhyn5eyn7q