---
kind: "section"
citation: "40 C.F.R. § 197.26"
title: "40"
number: "197.26"
heading: "What are the circumstances of the human intrusion?"
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/40/197.26"
---

# §197.26. What are the circumstances of the human intrusion?


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) Only releases of radionuclides that occur as a result of the intrusion and that are transported through the resulting borehole to the saturated zone are projected; and
- (f) **No releases are included which are caused by unlikely natural processes and events.**

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: Sec. 801, Pub. L. 102-486, 106 Stat. 2921, 42 U.S.C. 10141 n.

### Source

Source: 66 FR 32132, June 13, 2001, unless otherwise noted.