Year
1997
Abstract
The Management and Operating Contractor for the DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management is developing designs of waste packages that will contain various types of nuclear waste: spent fuel assemblies from commercial reactor plants, Navy nuclear-powered surface ships and submarines, DOE-owned spent fuel from civilian and government programs including some assemblies from foreign research reactors, as well as high-level wastes vitrified in glass. The safe disposal of this nuclear waste so that it will not harm future generations requires both natural and engineered barriers to prevent the release of radionuclides. This paper addresses the technical aspects of disposing of these wastes in robust packages and the use of other engineered systems, particularly focusing on the advances in design that have been made in the past year. The paper reviews the evolution of the waste package and engineered barrier design, and discusses the current status and rationale. In addition, the key engineering and regulatory issues that have guided the development are discussed along with the reasons that the longterm performance is expected to meet the requirements.