Additional Information on Monitored Retrievable Storage

Since the DOE developed the MRS proposal for the Congress, a number of questions have been raised by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the State of Tennessee, and others concerning the need for the MRS facility and the feasibility of achieving comparable performance for the overall waste—management system without an MRS facility. This report was prepared to provide additional information to address these questions.

This report reviews potential, modifications to the currently authorized system (the “reference no-MRS system”); describes and compares alternative no-MRS systems that Incorporate these potential modifications to varying degrees; and provides a summary comparison of a modified no—MRS system with similar system that include an MRS facility. Also included are additional information on the views of some U.S. utilities on the need for the MRS facility and preliminary estimates of Institutional, costs identified but not quantified in the DOE’s proposal to the Congress.

Nothing in this analysis indicates the need for any substantive changes in the conclusions reached in the DOE’s proposal about the system benefits and cost of an integrated MRS facility. The research and development programs described in the DOE’s proposal to the Congress may yield technological advances that can improve the waste management system with or without an integrated MRS facility. However, of these advances appears likely to significantly alter the net relative advantages offered by the MRS facility or the relative costs of adding that facility to the system.