(a) Qualifying condition. The site shall be located in a geologic setting where future tectonic processes or events will not be likely to lead to radionuclide releases greater than those allowable under the requirements specified in § 960.4-1. In predicting the likelihood of potentially disruptive tectonic processes or events, the DOE will consider the structural, stratigraphic, geophysical, and seismic evidence for the nature and rates of tectonic processes and events in the geologic setting during the Quaternary Period.

(b) Favorable condition. The nature and rates of igneous activity and tectonic processes (such as uplift, subsidence, faulting, or folding), if any, operating within the geologic setting during the Quaternary Period would, if continued into the future, have less than one chance in 10,000 over the first 10,000 years after closure of leading to releases of radionuclides to the accessible environment.

(c) Potentially adverse conditions. (1) Evidence of active folding, faulting, diapirism, uplift, subsidence, or other tectonic processes or igneous activity within the geologic setting during the Quaternary Period.

(2) Historical earthquakes within the geologic setting of such magnitude and intensity that, if they recurred, could affect waste containment or isolation.

(3) Indications, based on correlations of earthquakes with tectonic processes and features, that either the frequency of occurrence or the magnitude of earthquakes within the geologic setting may increase.

(4) More-frequent occurrences of earthquakes or earthquakes of higher magnitude than are representative of the region in which the geologic setting is located.

(5) Potential for natural phenomena such as landslides, subsidence, or volcanic activity of such magnitudes that they could create large-scale surface-water impoundments that could change the regional ground-water flow system.

(6) Potential for tectonic deformations—such as uplift, subsidence, folding, or faulting—that could adversely affect the regional ground-water flow system.

(d) Disqualifying condition. A site shall be disqualified if, based on the geologic record during the Quaternary Period, the nature and rates of fault movement or other ground motion are expected to be such that a loss of waste isolation is likely to occur.