The purpose of this directory is to make available a convenient source of information on package designs approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. To assist in identifying packages, an index by Model Number and corresponding Certificate of Compliance Number is included at the front of Volume 2. The report includes all package designs approved prior to the publication date of the directory as of September 2013.

Independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs) are currently licensed for 20 years. However, delays in developing permanent spent fuel disposal capability require continued ISFSI storage beyond the 20-year term. This report provides a technical basis for demonstrating the feasibility of extended spent fuel storage in ISFSIs.

Spent nuclear fuel comprises a fraction of the hazardous materials packages shipped annually in the United States. In fact, at the present time, fewer than 100 packages of spent nuclear fuel are shipped annually. At the onset of spent fuel shipments to the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, repository, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) expects to ship 400 - 500 spent fuel transport casks per year over the life of the facility.

The purpose of this report is to develop and analyze the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) Radionuclide Transport Abstraction Model, consistent with Level I and Level II model validation, as identified in Technical Work Plan for: Near-Field Environment: Engineered Barrier System: Radionuclide Transport Abstraction Model Report (BSC 2006 [DIRS 177739]). The EBS Radionuclide Transport Abstraction (or RTA) is the conceptual model used in the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) to determine the rate of radionuclide releases from the EBS to the unsaturated zone (UZ).

NRC initiated a research activity with the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA®) to develop a conceptual test plan for measuring the quantity of residual water remaining in a canister following vacuum drying to the criterion referenced in NUREG–1536. While residual water may be considered as unbound or bound (i.e., physi- or chemisorbed), the focus of this test plan is only the unbound water. This activity consists of the preparation of two technical letter reports. The first is the present report, which describes current industry drying practices and capabilities.