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An engineering study of the impact on costs and schedules of using a monitored retrievable storage facility in conjunction with a repository in tuff at Yucca Mountain

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:60159

This report documents the results of an engineering study of alternative design concepts for an integrated waste management system involving a repository in tuff at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Six alternative engineering case studies were developed as a means of comparing various scenarios. Two of the cases involve variations in the design of a repository in a waste management system that does not include a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility. Four cases involve alternatives in which a repository receives consolidated spent fuel from an MRS facility located in Tennessee. The waste-handling facilities at the repository are designed to receive and handle up to 3000 metric tons of uranium per year (MTU/y) of spent fuel and an equivalent of 400 MTU/y of defense high-level waste. In each case, different types and quantities of waste are received at the repository because the waste preparation functions assigned to the MRS facility vary from case to case. It is assumed that spent fuel is consolidated in all cases, either at the repository or at the MRS facility. Concepts for consolidating equipment being developed by Westinghouse are used as the bases for the design of the waste-handling facilities. The impact of emplacing unconsolidated spent fuel is not addressed in this study. The variations in repository functions and waste receipts in the six cases result in significant differences in design, operation, cost, and schedule.

Research Organization:
Bechtel National, Inc., San Francisco, CA (United States); Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
60159
Report Number(s):
SAND--85-7112; ON: DE87012573
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English