Dear Secretary Chu:
At the direction of the President, you charged the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s
Nuclear Future with reviewing policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel
cycle and recommending a new plan. We thank you for choosing us to serve as Co-
Chairmen of the Commission and for selecting the talented and dedicated set of
Commissioners with whom we serve.
We have sought to ensure that our review is comprehensive, open and inclusive. The
Commission and its subcommittees have heard from hundreds of individuals and

The purpose of this calculation is to determine the required minimum burnup as a function of initial pressurized water reactor (PWR) assembly enrichment that would permit loading of fuel into the 21 PWR waste package (WP), as provided for in QAP-2-0 Activity Evaluation, Perform Criticality, Thermal, Structural, & Shielding Analyses (Reference 7.1).

Hydrogen-induced cracking is characterized by the decreased ductility and fracture toughness of a material due to the absorption of atomic hydrogen in the metal crystal lattice. Corrosion is the source of hydrogen generation. For the current design of the engineered barrier without backfill, hydrogen-induced cracking may be a concern because the titanium drip shield can be galvanically coupled to rock bolts (or wire mesh), which may fall onto the drip shield, thereby creating conditions for hydrogen production by electrochemical reaction.

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the potential for penetration of the Alloy 22 (UNS N06022) waste package outer barrier by localized corrosion due to the deliquescence of soluble constituents in dust present on waste package surfaces. The results support a recommendation to exclude deliquescence-induced localized corrosion (pitting or crevice corrosion) of the outer barrier from the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA).

The purpose of this scientific analysis report, CSNF Loading Curve Sensitivity Analysis, is to establish the required minimum burnup as a function of initial enrichment for both pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF) that would allow permanent disposal of these waste forms in the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. The relationship between the required minimum burnup and fuel assembly initial enrichment forms a loading curve.

There are more than 250 forms of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Due to the variety of the spent nuclear fuel, the National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program (NSNFP) has designated nine representative fuel groups for disposal criticality analyses based on fuel matrix, primary fissile isotope, and enrichment. Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) fuel has been designated as the representative fuel for the mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel group which is a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of elements with radioactive isotopes under probable repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, field measurements, and laboratory experiments.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is responsible, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from point of origin to destination at a federal storage or disposal facility. Section 180(c), written into the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1987, requires OCRWM to prepare public safety officials along the routes for these shipments.

This new report from the National Research Council’s Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB) and the Transportation Research Board reviews the risks and technical and societal concerns for the transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States. Shipments are expected to increase as the U.S. Department of Energy opens a repository for spent fuel and high-level waste at Yucca Mountain, and the commercial nuclear industry considers constructing a facility in Utah for temporary storage of spent fuel from some of its nuclear waste plants.

Dear Representatives Upton and Shimkus,
At the direction of the President, the Secretary of Energy established the Blue Ribbon
Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and charged it with reviewing policies for
managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. We are serving as the Co-Chairmen of
the Commission and have taken note of your recent comments about the Commission’s
work.
Your comments echo those we have heard from several members of Congress and from
people across the country who believe the United States should not abandon the

This report presents the analyses and results for the potential occurrence of external criticality events which could result from plutonium waste forms emplaced in a geologic repository similar to the one being developed at Yucca Mountain. The analyses evaluate both the MOX spent fuel and the immobilized plutonium waste forms in a repository if the waste package has degraded and if the fissile material has migrated to the invert and out into the far-field.

The purpose of this analysis is to provide an initial radionuclide inventory (in grams per waste package) and associated uncertainty distributions for use in the Total System Performance Assessment for the License Application (TSPA-LA) in support of the license application for the repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This document is intended for use in postclosure analysis only.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended, authorized the DOE to develop and manage a Federal system for the disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW). The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste (OCRWM) was created to manage acceptance, transportation and disposal of SNF and HLW in a manner that protects public health, safety, and the environment; enhances national and energy security; and merits public confidence.

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) supports (1) the development and use of geological
repositories for disposal of high-level radioactive wastes and (2) expeditious processing of the
Yucca Mountain license application in an open, technically sound manner. Geological disposal
means placing the wastes hundreds of feet underground and far from the biosphere. The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is following a legislatively well-defined regulatory
process to evaluate the safety of the proposed Yucca Mountain Site to meet both the scientific

US policy for management of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and high level radioactive wastes (HLRW) is at a crossroads, and the success of new policy directions will depend in part on broad public acceptance and support. In this paper I provide an overview of the evidence concerning the beliefs and concerns of members of the American public regarding UNF and HLNW. I also characterize the evidence on American’s policy preferences for management of these materials.

The issue of interim storage of used (spent)1 fuel is dependent on a number of key factors, some
of which are not known at this time but are the subject of this study. The first is whether or not
the Yucca Mountain Project continues or is cancelled such that it may be able to receive spent
fuel from existing and decommissioned nuclear power stations. The second is whether the United
States will pursue a policy of reprocessing and recycling nuclear fuel. The reprocessing and

The purpose of this report is to document the thermal-hydrologic-chemical (THC) seepage model and model simulations. The simulations predict the composition of fracture water that could potentially seep into repository emplacement drifts and the composition of the associated gas phase. The THC seepage model is not used to feed the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA).

The purpose of this report is to <,locument the sensitivity of the drift-scale thermal-hydrologic- chemical (THC) seepage model (SNL 2007 [DIRS 177404]) to heterogeneities in permeability and capillarity, which could affect predicted fluxes and chemistries of water and gases seeping into the emplacement drifts. This report has been developed following Technical Work Plan for: Revision of Model Reports for Near-Field and In-Drift Water Chemistry (SNL 2007 [DIRS 179287]).

On April 25, 2013, Senators Wyden, Alexander, Feinstein, and Murkowski released a draft bill to create a sustainable, participatory process for managing nuclear waste. The senators requested comments and suggestions on the draft bill, as well as on the alternative language for siting an interim storage facility proposed by Senators Alexander and Feinstein. In addition, the senators posed eight questions on which they sought comments.

The purpose of this calculation is to perform waste-form specific nuclear criticality safety calculations to aid in establishing criticality safety design criteria, and to identify design and process parameters that are potentially important to the criticality safety of Department of Energy (DOE) standardized Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) canisters.

The purpose of this document is to summarize the degraded waste package disposal criticality evaluations which were performed in fiscal years I995 and I996. These evaluations were described in detail in 4 previous documents (Refs. I through 4). The initial version of this summary has been described in the I996 Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology Technical Report (Ref. 5). A topical report planned for 1998 will present the methodology in its final form for approval by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The purpose of this document is to present the methodology to be used for development of the Subcritical Limit (SL) for post closure conditions for the Yucca Mountain repository. The SL is a value based on a set of benchmark criticality multiplier, keff> results that are outputs of the MCNP calculation method. This SL accounts for calculational biases and associated uncertainties resulting from the use of MCNP as the method of assessing kerr·