RE: volcano?

["Tuttle, William K." <William.Tuttle@MED.VA.GOV>]

Why is it foolish to site major cities in areas of volcanoes which are

relatively inactive?  Surely it is more foolish to site major cities in

areas of active earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc?  We can

probably think of some environmental reason not to locate a major city at

most places they are presently located.



Not the government's (my employer) opinion, only mine



William K. Tuttle III

Portland VA Medical Center



> -----Original Message-----

> From:	Susan Gawarecki [SMTP:loc@ICX.NET]

> Sent:	Tuesday, November 27, 2001 1:40 PM

> To:	RADSAFE

> Subject:	Re: volcano?

> 

> That would really depend on the type of volcano!  A Mount St.

> Helens-type would just spread it all around.  Of course, no one is

> foolish enough to site a radwaste repository in an active andesitic

> volcanic regime like the Pacific northwest (it's foolish enough to site

> major cities there).  

> 

> Most of the theoretical volcano concerns I've heard have been in regards

> to Yucca Mtn.  In that case, the granite mountain would not be

> penetrated by the volcano or its lava pipes; lava like water follows the

> path of least resistance and would travel through the heavily fractured

> down-faulted areas, emerging on the dry lake beds or at worst adjacent

> to the mountains.  This extensional geologic regime is characterized by

> basaltic lavas, which are not explosive and spread out in sheet flows or

> form relatively small cinder cones.

> 

> Gee, all those underground explosions at NTS didn't start any volcanos

> (or cause any big earthquakes)--I don't think there is likely to be a

> problem with either at Yucca Mtn.  Let's get that spent fuel on the road

> (an opinion shared by the Local Oversight Committee)!

> 

> Regards,

> Susan

> 

> > Volcanos bting up molten rock through "pipes" a few sq. m. cross

> > sectional area, so if a volcano came up thru a waste repository, only a

> > tiny fraction of the stored radwaste would be affected. The rest would

> > become more tightly sealed.

> 

> -- 

> .....................................................

> Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

> Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

> Please visit our Web site - http://www.local-oversight.org

> .....................................................

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