In an attempt to resolve the controversial issue of tectonic and hydrologic stability of the Yucca Mountain region, the National Academy of Sciences established a Panel on Coupled Hydrologic/Tectonic/Hydrothermal Systems. The Panel has recently released it's findings in a report entitled Ground Water at Yucca Mountain: How High Can It Rise? The representation of data and the scientific validity of this report was the subject of comprehensive evaluations and reviews which has led to correspondence between Dr. Charles Archambeau and Dr. Frank Press, the President of the National Academy of Sciences. All such correspondence prior to April 9, 1993 is covered by TRAC Special Report #5, "Dialogs on the Yucca Mountain Controversy." The present report represents a continuation of the dialog between Dr. Archambeau and Dr. Press; specifically the letter from Dr. Press to Dr. Archambeau dated April 9, 1993 and Archambeau's response to Press, dated August 19,1993.
Dr. Archambeau is currently President of Technology Research Associates corporation. He has been a consultant to the Department of Energy for seismic effects associated with geothermal energy production and for problems associated with regional seismic network emplacement for nuclear test detection. He has also been a Department of Energy consultant involved in the technical evaluation of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and a member of the seismic review panel for the U.S Air Force from 1978 to 1985 with responsibility for technical review of underground nuclear test detection and discrimination problems. Dr. Archambeau has also served on the board of directors for a number of U.S. and Canadian companies and has been active in their business management and scientific programs. In 1986 Dr. Archambeau joined a U.S. Citizens delegation to the Soviet Union that negotiated a seismic monitoring agreement between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Natural Resources Defense Council of the U.S. This project was designed to monitor both U.S. and Soviet nuclear tests and Dr. Archambeau organized and headed the U.S. team of experts that subsequently installed and operated three seismic stations around the nuclear test sites in each country.
Dr. Archambeau's interests include geophysics, applied mathematics, and field theory topics in basic physics. He has been very influential in the contributions of Ph.D. candidates as a professor at the University of Colorado and the California Institute of Technology. Recognized for his "leadership in applying seismology to the banning of nuclear tests", he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1988.
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