CFR > Title 10 - Energy > CHAPTER I—NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION > PART 63—DISPOSAL OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES IN A GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA > SUBPART L—Postclosure Public Health and Environmental Standards (§63.301 to §63.343) > 63.322—Human intrusion scenario.

63.322—Human intrusion scenario.

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) No particulate waste material falls into the borehole;
(f) The exposure scenario includes only those radionuclides transported to the saturated zone by water (e.g., water enters the waste package, releases radionuclides, and transports radionuclides by way of the borehole to the saturated zone); and
(g) No releases are included which are caused by unlikely natural processes and events.