Summary of Investigations on Technical Feasibility of Direct Disposal of Dual-Purpose Canisters

Hardin, Ernest; Price, Laura L.; Kalinina, Elena Arkadievna; Hadgu, Teklu; Ilgen, Anastasia Gennadyevna; Bryan, Charles R.; Scaglione, John M; Banerjee, Kaushik; Clarity, Justin B.; Jubin, Robert Thomas; Sobes, Vladimir; Howard, Rob L; Carter, Joe; Severynse, Thomas F.; Perry, Frank V.

doi:10.2172/1504860

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…For example, Swedish, Finnish, and French concepts [27][28][29] call for disposal of spent fuel in waste packages containing four PWR fuel assemblies (or equivalent amounts of other fuel types), rather than the 32 or more PWR assemblies typical of US DPCs. Necessary modifications to existing repository design concepts other than Yucca Mountain to accommodate the size and mass of DPCs could be extensive, including changes in hoist or ramp design, emplacement drift dimensions, and emplacement transporter technology, but they appear to be achievable using current engineering technology [30]. Modifications to disposal concepts similar to Yucca Mountain could be more straightforward, given the larger size of TAD canister specified for the repository (21 PWR assemblies per waste package) and the use of rails and an inclined ramp for waste emplacement.…”

Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modifications to disposal concepts similar to Yucca Mountain could be more straightforward, given the larger size of TAD canister specified for the repository (21 PWR assemblies per waste package) and the use of rails and an inclined ramp for waste emplacement. The greater thermal power of large waste packages may pose a more significant challenge to most existing disposal concept designs because the difficulty of transferring decay heat away from packages after emplacement may cause temperatures to rise above intended limits [30,31]. Figure 5 shows representative estimates of aging times required before repository closure for a hypothetical waste package containing 32 PWR assemblies to meet temperature constraints for representative repository designs in sedimentary or hard rocks (e.g., clay/shale or granite) with a clay buffer, hard rocks without a clay buffer, and salt.…”

Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Options for assuring postclosure criticality control without opening existing DPCs include robust overpacks that limit the potential for waste package failure, analysis of uncredited reactivity margin associated with the specific loading details of each DPC, and partial reliance on neutron sorption by chloride in saline groundwaters. For those alreadyloaded DPCs for which postclosure criticality remains a concern, opening canisters to insert neutron-absorbing filler materials may be an option [30].…”

Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approaches for managing spent fuel that is already in dry storage and that will be loaded into DPCs in the future focus on two alternatives: options for shipping DPCs to consolidated interim storage facilities where fuel can be repackaged later into repository-specific disposal packages [38,39], and options for direct geologic disposal of sealed DPCs without repackaging [30].…”

Section: Options For An Integrated Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Need for Integrating the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the United States of America

2018

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Current practice for commercial spent nuclear fuel management in the United States of America (US) includes storage of spent fuel in both pools and dry storage cask systems at nuclear power plants. Most storage pools are filled to their operational capacity, and management of the approximately 2,200 metric tons of spent fuel newly discharged each year requires transferring older and cooler fuel from pools into dry storage. In the absence of a repository that can accept spent fuel for permanent disposal, projections indicate that the US will have approximately 134,000 metric tons of spent fuel in dry storage by mid-century when the last plants in the current reactor fleet are decommissioned. Current designs for storage systems rely on large dual-purpose (storage and transportation) canisters that are not optimized for disposal. Various options exist in the US for improving integration of management practices across the entire back end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

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Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Current Practice For Disposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Options For An Integrated Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Need for Integrating the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the United States of America

2018

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“…Researchers have begun analyzing generic disposal concepts in unsaturated alluvium formations [1,2] in part because alluvium may have thermal and hydrogeologic characteristics that are advantageous for managing the challenges associated with geologic disposal of large DPCs. For example, low water content in unsaturated alluvial deposits could diminish the probability that enough water would be available to fill a breached canister and cause a criticality event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ORNL Input to GDSA Repository Systems Analysis FY21

Painter

2021

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Long-term sinking of nuclear waste canisters in salt formations by low-stress creep at high temperature

Tounsi

Rutqvist

et al. 2023

Acta Geotech.

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Rock salt has a self-sealing capacity, low permeability, and high thermal conductivity, making it a potential host for heat-generating nuclear waste. The feasibility of nuclear waste disposal within salt formations has been investigated mostly for small-sized canisters. Geologic disposal of larger-sized canisters originally designed for spent fuel storage and transportation has lately been examined as a cost-effective alternative. This raises questions about their long-term vertical movement due to their weight and high decay heat. Low-stress creep governs this movement; however, most salt constitutive models do not incorporate it. In this paper, the Norton and the WIPP creep models are compared with the Lux/Wolters/Lerche (LWL) model and a simpler model that combines linear and Norton creep laws (named combined creep model). The LWL and combined creep models consider pressure solution creep, though all incorporate dislocation creep. The models are first applied to creep tests under various stress levels. The LWL and the combined creep models results fit the experimental data well in both high and low stress ranges, whereas the Norton and WIPP models results only fit in higher-stress ranges. The different models are further applied for analyzing long-term canister movement. A sinking rate of $$-4.4\times 10^{-7}$$ - 4.4 × 10 - 7 mm/year was predicted using the Norton and WIPP models versus $$-2.1\times 10^{-2}$$ - 2.1 × 10 - 2 mm/year and $$-3.1\times 10^{-2}$$ - 3.1 × 10 - 2 mm/year using the LWL and the combined creep models, respectively. This comparative study confirms that creep models calibrated exclusively against high-deviatoric stress data might result in an inaccurate estimation of waste packages sinking rate in salt formations.

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Summary of Investigations on Technical Feasibility of Direct Disposal of Dual-Purpose Canisters

Cited by 7 publications

References 14 publications

The Need for Integrating the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the United States of America

The Need for Integrating the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the United States of America

ORNL Input to GDSA Repository Systems Analysis FY21

Long-term sinking of nuclear waste canisters in salt formations by low-stress creep at high temperature

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