Defense High Level Waste Disposal Container System Description
The Defense High Level Waste Disposal Container System supports the confinement and isolation of waste within the Engineered Barrier System of the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR). Disposal containers are loaded and sealed in the surface waste handling facilities, transferred to the underground through the accesses using a rail mounted transporter, and emplaced in emplacement drifts. The defense high level waste (HLW) disposal container provides long-term confinement of the commercial HLW and defense HLW (including immobilized plutonium waste forms (IPWF)) placed within disposable canisters, and withstands the loading, transfer, emplacement, and retrieval loads and environments. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in disposable canisters may also be placed in a defense HLW disposal container along with commercial HLW waste forms, which is known as 'co-disposal'. The Defense High Level Waste Disposal Container System provides containment of waste for a designated period of time, and limits radionuclide release. The disposal container/waste package maintains the waste in a designated configuration, withstands maximum handling and rockfall loads, limits the individual canister temperatures after emplacement, resists corrosion in the expected handling and repository environments, and provides containment of waste in the event of an accident. Defense HLW disposal containers for HLW disposal will hold up to five HLW canisters. Defense HLW disposal containers for co-disposal will hold up to five HLW canisters arranged in a ring and one DOE SNF canister in the ring. Defense HLW disposal containers also will hold two Multi-Canister Overpacks (MCOs) and two HLW canisters in one disposal container. The disposal container will include outer and inner cylinders, outer and inner cylinder lids, and may include a canister guide. An exterior label will provide a means by which to identify the disposal container and its contents. Different materials will be selected for the disposal container inner and outer cylinders. The two metal cylinders, in combination with the Emplacement Drift System, drip shield, and natural barrier, will support the design philosophy of defense-in-depth. The use of materials with different properties prevents a single mode failure from breaching the waste package. The inner cylinder and inner cylinder lids will be constructed of stainless steel and the outer cylinder and outer cylinder lids will be a barrier made of high-nickel alloy. The defense HLW disposal container interfaces with the emplacement drift environment and the internal waste by transferring heat from the canisters to the external environment and by protecting the canisters and their contents from damage/degradation by the external environment. The disposal container also interfaces with the canisters by limiting access of moderator and oxidizing agents to the waste. A loaded and sealed disposal container (waste package) interfaces with the Emplacement Drift System's emplacement drift waste package supports upon which the waste packages are placed. The disposal container interfaces with the Canister Transfer System, Waste Emplacement /Retrieval System, Disposal Container Handling System, and Waste Package Remediation System during loading, handling, transfer, emplacement, and retrieval for the disposal container/waste package.
- Research Organization:
- Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC08-91RW00134
- OSTI ID:
- 765253
- Report Number(s):
- SDD-DDC-SE-000001 REV 01; MOL.20000823.0001, DC No. 25534; TRN: US200716%%338
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 12 Oct 2000; PBD: 12 Oct 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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