part_subject: "PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION PROTECTION STANDARDS FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA"
subpart_code: "B"
subpart_subject: "Public Health and Environmental Standards for Disposal"
section_number: "197.26"
section_subject: "What are the circumstances of the human intrusion?"
cfr_reference: "40 CFR 197.26"
title_name: "Title 40"
title_subject: "Protection of Environment"
parts_covered: "Parts 190 to 259"
revised_date: "Revised as of July 1, 2019"
publication_date: "As of July 1, 2019"
contains_description: "Containing a codification of documents of general applicability and future effect"
publication_info: "Published by Office of the Federal Register National Archives and Records Administration as a Special Edition of the Federal Register"
---
For the purposes of the analysis of human intrusion, DOE must make the following assumptions:
(a)There is a single human intrusion as a result of exploratory drilling for ground water;
(b)The intruders drill a borehole directly through a degraded waste package into the uppermost aquifer underlying the Yucca Mountain repository;
(c)The drillers use the common techniques and practices that are currently employed in exploratory drilling for ground water in the region surrounding Yucca Mountain;
(d)Careful sealing of the borehole does not occur, instead natural degradation processes gradually modify the borehole;
(e)Only releases of radionuclides that occur as a result of the intrusion and that are transported through the resulting borehole to the saturated zone are projected; and
(f)No releases are included which are caused by unlikely natural processes and events.