Year
1996
Abstract
The United States Department of Energy is responsible for the siting, design, construction, operation and closure of a repository in which to permanently dispose of the nation’s high level nuclear waste. In addition to the objective of safely isolating the waste inventory, the repository must provide a safe working environment for its workforce, and protect the public. The conceptual design for this facility is currently being developed by the DOE’s Management & Operating contractor in Las Vegas, Nevada. The repository must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Tunnel Boring Machines will be used to excavate approximately 228 kilometers of tunneling to construct the facility over a 30 year period. The excavation operations will be physically separated from the waste emplacement operations, and each operation will have its own dedicated ventilation system. The legislated capacity of the first repository is 70,000 metric tons (heavy metal) and is expected to be made up of 63,000 metric tons of commercial spent nuclew iirel and 7,000 metric tons of vitrified defense high level waste. Approximately 12,000 waste packages, each containing up to 9 MT of spent nuclear fuel, will be emplaced in the tunnels using an underground rail system. The emplacement of the waste is expected to result in temperatures of up to 200 C in the rock surface. The facility is being designed to remain open approximately 150 years.