[EnergySolutions] Task Order 11: Development of Consolidated Storage Facility Design Concepts

The “Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste” report was issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) in January 2013. The strategy includes a phased, adaptive, and consent based approach to siting and implementing a comprehensive management and disposal system. It also endorses a waste management system containing a pilot interim storage facility and a full-scale interim storage facility, which prioritizes the acceptance of fuel from shut-down reactors. Required features of the system and facilities are:

• A pilot interim storage facility with limited capacity capable of accepting used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and initially focused on serving shut-down reactor sites;

• A larger, consolidated interim storage facility, potentially co-located with the pilot facility and/or with a geologic repository, that provides the needed flexibility in the waste management system and allows for important near-term progress in implementing the
federal commitment;

• System would initially be focused on acceptance of used nuclear fuel from shut-down reactors, which provides a unique opportunity to build and demonstrate the capability to safely transport and store used nuclear fuel. Following these initial efforts, capacity will be developed to enable the acceptance and transportation of used nuclear fuel at rates greater than that at which utilities are currently discharging it in order to gradually work off the current inventory.

• Depending on the outcome of a consent-based process, the larger facility could have a capacity of 20,000 MTHM or greater, and could be co-located with the pilot facility or the eventual geologic repository.

The report also outlines DOE’s plan for implementing the management and disposal system over the next 10 years:

• Identify site, complete design, license, construct and commence operations of a pilot interim storage facility by 2021 with an initial focus on accepting used nuclear fuel from shut-down reactor sites;

• Advances toward the siting and licensing of a larger interim storage facility to be available by 2025 that will have sufficient capacity to provide flexibility in the waste management system and allows for acceptance of enough used nuclear fuel to reduce
expected government liabilities; and

• Makes demonstrable progress on the siting and characterization of repository sites to facilitate the availability of a geologic repository by 2048.

The Consolidated Storage Facility (CSF) design concept presented in this report, which was developed during the time period July to November 2012, closely aligns with the DOE strategy as described in the following text.

The concept comprises of three stages:

• Stage 1 - Receipt of Transportable Storage Casks (TSCs) containing used nuclear fuel (UNF) from Humboldt Bay and the operating sites that use at least some DPCs.

• Stage 2 - Receipt of UNF stored in Dual Purpose Canisters (DPCs) from the shutdown and operating reactor sites.

• Stage 3 – Addition of facilities and infrastructure needed to both package bare UNF assemblies and repackage UNF assemblies stored within DPCs, into disposal canisters that are suitable for final geologic disposal.

Stages 1 and 2 completed in parallel, coupled with a storage pad size capable of storing around 250 storage casks (2,800 MT), represent the required functionality for the pilot interim storage facility.

Stage 3, coupled with a storage pad capable of storing 30,000 to 40,000 MT and a receipt rate of 3,000 MT/yr, represents the larger consolidated interim storage facility. This staged approach spreads out the capital cost and provides the required opportunity to build and demonstrate the capability to safely transport and store the UNF, as well as expeditiously removing the UNF from the shut-down reactor sites.

The schedules presented in this report reflect the staged approach for the design concept, i.e. CSF ready to begin operations by 2022 for receipt of TSCs only (Stage 1) and CSF ready to begin operations for DPCs by 2025. However, by performing Stages 1 and 2 in parallel, the DPC receipt operations start date can be pulled back to 2022, which is close to the 2021 date identified in the DOE strategy report, noting that the main drivers for the operations start dates are the front end authorizations and procurements.

Repository start dates of 2035 and 2040 are assumed and analyzed in this report, which are earlier than the 2048 date identified in the DOE strategy report. The impact of a delay in the start of repository operations is evaluated in this report by assuming that the start date for the repository is delayed from 2035 and 2040. The result is that the CSF requires approximately 52% more storage area and associated storage casks. If we now assume that the repository start dates is 2048, rather than 2040, then the storage area/storage cask requirements would increase by a further 54%, which would add an additional $0.4 billion to the lifecycle cost.