Feasibility assessment of copper-base waste package container materials in nuclear waste repositories sited in basalt and tuff

Conference · Thu Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:60440

Gause, E P; Abraham, N

In early 1984, the United States Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (DOE-OCRWM) established a two-year program (FY 1985 and FY 1986) to evaluate the use of copper and copper alloys in basalt and tuff repository environments in accordance with Congressional directive. The Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigation (NNWSI) Project concluded that copper-base materials are feasible as candidate container materials in a repository sited in a basalt or tuff environment. The feasibility of using copper materials in containers was qualitatively assessed using the following criteria: 1) container design and development; 2) preclosure safety (e.g., fabrication or emplacement risks); 3) repository interfaces (e.g., handling of containers); 4) retrievability considerations; 5) containment (mainly corrosion considerations); 6) radionuclide release (container/waste interactions); and 7) cost and availability. Weighting factors were not used and no comparison to other candidate disposal container materials was made. This paper details the results of testing, literature reviews, and evaluations that were performed for each of the seven criteria on each of the three conceptual container designs. The designs were as follows: A thick-walled Cupronickel 90-10 pressure vessel (BWIP); a copper monolith made by the HIP (hot isostatic pressing) process (BWIP); and a thin-walled aluminum bronze or Cupronickel 70-30 pressure vessel (NNWSI Project). A brief discussion of future plans to evaluate copper-base materials is presented for the BWIP and NNWSI Project.

• Research Organization: Roy F. Weston, Inc., 955 L`Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20024 (US)
• OSTI ID: 60440
• Report Number(s): CONF-870306--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
BASALT
BRONZE
CONTAINERS
COPPER BASE ALLOYS
DESIGN
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
HOT PRESSING
NICKEL ALLOYS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PRESSURE VESSELS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REVIEWS
TUFF
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
WASTE RETRIEVAL
Yucca Mountain Project