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Title: Total System Performance Assessment Sensitivity Analyses for Final Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulations

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:796211

This Letter Report presents the results of supplemental evaluations and analyses designed to assess long-term performance of the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. The evaluations were developed in the context of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) final public regulation, or rule, 10 CFR Part 63 (66 FR 55732 [DIRS 156671]), which was issued on November 2, 2001. This Letter Report addresses the issues identified in the Department of Energy (DOE) technical direction letter dated October 2, 2001 (Adams 2001 [DIRS 156708]). The main objective of this Letter Report is to evaluate performance of the potential Yucca Mountain repository using assumptions consistent with performance-assessment-related provisions of 10 CFR Part 63. The incorporation of the final Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard, 40 CFR Part 197 (66 FR 32074 [DIRS 155216]), and the analysis of the effect of the 40 CFR Part 197 EPA final rule on long-term repository performance are presented in the Total System Performance Assessment--Analyses for Disposal of Commercial and DOE Waste Inventories at Yucca Mountain--Input to Final Environmental Impact Statement and Site Suitability Evaluation (BSC 2001 [DIRS 156460]), referred to hereafter as the FEIS/SSE Letter Report. The Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) analyses conducted and documented prior to promulgation of the NRC final rule 10 CFR Part 63 (66 FR 55732 [DIRS 156671]), were based on the NRC proposed rule (64 FR 8640 [DIRS 101680]). Slight differences exist between the NRC's proposed and final rules which were not within the scope of the FEIS/SSE Letter Report (BSC 2001 [DIRS 156460]), the Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation (PSSE) (DOE 2001 [DIRS 155743]), and supporting documents for these reports. These differences include (1) the possible treatment of ''unlikely'' features, events and processes (FEPs) in evaluation of both the groundwater protection standard and the human-intrusion scenario of the individual protection standard, and (2) the definition of the water demand of the reasonably maximally exposed individual (RMEI). It is these differences, as well as uncertainty associated with the appropriate approach to implement these differences, that have necessitated the additional analyses presented in this document.

Research Organization:
Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Energy (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC08-01RW12101
OSTI ID:
796211
Report Number(s):
MOL.20011213.0057; DC# 30419, Rev. 00, ICN 01; TRN: US0206374
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 2001
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English