THE OVERALL STUDY OBJECTIVE IS TO DEFINE THE PRACTICAL COST-EFFECTIVE LIMITS OF WATER MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY IN A DEEP BASED SYSTEM.

THE OVERALL STUDY OBJECTIVE IS TO DEFINE THE PRACTICAL COST-EFFECTIVE LIMITS OF WATER MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY IN A DEEP BASED SYSTEM. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL USE THE SATURN PROGRAM, A "STATE-OF-THE-ART" TWOPHASE FINITE ELEMENT PROGRAM TO DEFINE ANALYTICALLY THE HYDROGEOLOGIC BEHAVIOR OF SATURATED TUFF IN RESPONSE TO STRESS LOADING. THE MODEL PREDICTIONS WILL BE COMPARED TO OBSERVED RESULTS FROM REPRESENTATIVE UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR TESTS AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE (NTS) TO VALIDATE THE TECHNIQUE. ONCE VALIDATED IN PHASE I, THE MODEL CAN BE SUBSEQUENTLY EXTENDED TO PREDICT HYDROGEOLOGIC BEHAVIOR (I.E., FLOW RATES AND FLUID PRESSURES) OVER A RANGE OF REPRESENTATIVE DEEP BASING GEOLOGIES AND OVERSTRESS CONDITIONS. THE SATURN PROGRAM IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF DR. JOEL SWEET, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, WHO IS KNOWN AS ONE OF THE FOREMOST INNOVATORS IN DEVELOPING COMPLEX ANALYTICAL MODELS.