Economic impacts of waste emplacement configuration for the potential nuclear waste repository at the Nevada Test Site

Conference · Mon Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:59790

Scully, L W; Brasier, R I; Gram, H F

The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project is developing a conceptual design for a potential repository in welded tuff at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Two different configurations are under consideration for waste emplacement: vertical, with single waste canisters placed in holes in the floor of the emplacement drift; and horizontal, with multiple canisters placed in long holes in the walls of the drift. The cost of these two alternatives varies based on the amount of mining, borehole drilling, muck handling, and repository ventilation required. The difficulty of emplacement and retrieval operations also contributes to a cost differential. This paper presents these relative costs, showing a relative total cost differential of $880 million between the two methods.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Waste Engineering Projects Division, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
• OSTI ID: 59790
• Report Number(s): CONF-840307--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONFIGURATION
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
COST ESTIMATION
DESIGN
ECONOMIC IMPACT
EMPLACEMENT
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NEVADA TEST SITE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SPENT FUEL CASKS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WASTE RETRIEVAL
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project