NRC visit

Last week I met several geologists working at the NRC (National Regulatory Commission). In general, geologists at the NRC work on problems such as nuclear waste remediation, site assessment for locations that want to build new power plants, and the safety and environmental impact of the proposed Yucca mountain nuclear waste repository.

Most of the geologists I talked to worked on the Yucca mountain project. These geologists examined things such as the probability of a volcanic eruption or earthquake occurring over the next 1 million years. Scientists are required to make quantitative assessments of how the public could be impacted if high level nuclear waste were thrown in the air by a volcanic eruption or leaked into the groundwater system. The NRC is not pro- or against nuclear activity, but exist to regulate any type of nuclear activity occurring in the United States. The geologists I talked to at the NRC were very enthusiastic about their work. The overarching challenge of the Yucca mountain project is to determine or model how the Earth may change over the next 1 Ma. This appears to be a very difficult question. The pyramids were built no more than 5,000 years ago, which is substantially trivial compared to 1 Ma of geologic time. It is challenging to predict what types of societies may exist 1 Ma from now or exactly how the landscape will change and evolve over this large extent of time.

I think today's science offers a great amount of insight to this problem. This question can only be answered through an integration of the sciences: geology, geophysics, geomorphology, meteorology, hydrology, seismology, tectonics, anthropology, computer science and modeling, etc... I find this problem interesting because I am interested in learning how landscapes change over time and if we can accurately predict the form of the landscape into the future. The Yucca mountain problem is especially interesting because the results of any landscape modeling directly impact society, and is the core reason whether or not people will be harmed by nuclear waste or not. When I graduate I hope to have the opportunity to work on such a project, where I can use my knowledge of geology to help society.

Here is a picture of Yucca mountain from the DOE:

Ariel photo of Yucca mountain location in Nevada from http://esmeraldanvnuke.com/yucca.html:

More information of the Yucca mountain regulatory assessment from the NRC can be found at:

http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html