Room at the Mountain: Estimated Maximum Amounts of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Capable of Disposal in a Yucca Mountain Repository

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:20995518

Kessler, John H ^[1]; Kemeny, John ^[2]; King, Fraser ^[3]; Ross, Alan M ^[4]; Ross, Benjamen ^[5]

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1. Electric Power Research Institute - EPRI, 3420 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304 (United States)
2. University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721 (United States)
3. Integrity Corrosion Consulting, Ltd., 6732 Silverview Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)
4. Alan M. Ross and Associates, 1061 Gray Fox Circle Pleasanton, CA 94566 (Canada)
5. Disposal Safety, Inc., Bethesda, MD 20814 (United States)

The purpose of this paper is to present an initial analysis of the maximum amount of commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF) that could be emplaced into a geological repository at Yucca Mountain. This analysis identifies and uses programmatic, material, and geological constraints and factors that affect this estimation of maximum amount of CSNF for disposal. The conclusion of this initial analysis is that the current legislative limit on Yucca Mountain disposal capacity, 63,000 MTHM of CSNF, is a small fraction of the available physical capacity of the Yucca Mountain system assuming the current high-temperature operating mode (HTOM) design. EPRI is confident that at least four times the legislative limit for CSNF ({approx}260,000 MTHM) can be emplaced in the Yucca Mountain system. It is possible that with additional site characterization, upwards of nine times the legislative limit ({approx}570,000 MTHM) could be emplaced. (authors)

• Research Organization: The ASME Foundation, Inc., Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 20995518
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
CAPACITY
CURRENTS
DESIGN
EPRI
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
SPENT FUELS
YUCCA MOUNTAIN