Site characterization
Posted by Myla Reson on May 20, 1999 at 15:41:46:In Reply to: Myla Reson comments posted by John Tauxe on May 20, 1999 at 08:52:23:
Mr. Tauxe -
Just because a big pile of money has been spent on site characteriztion, that doesn't prove that
the site has been accurately characterized. The DoE nad EPA are very good at wasting
taxpayer money.The site is located in a very large region of karst. Karst is a geological system that is charact-
erized by caverns and underground rivers. One of the big problems with putting any toxic material
in a kartic area is that rapid release to the accessible environment is possible. In karst there is
not much filtration, water and waste flow rapidly through channels that have been eroded by water
flowing through soft rock.The DoE and EPA claim that there is no karst at WIPP because if they were to admit the
presence of karst all of their claims about containing the waste would be called into question.There are three simple and relatively inexpensive tests that could be used to determine whether
or not karst exists at WIPP. They are: (1)sorber dye tracer tests; (2) strategic multi-well pump
tests, and; (3) and slant drilling.