This is the DOE Atlas Railcar Project End-of-Phase 2 Final Report (Revision 1 from March 2018) that describes the technical progress through Phase 2 for the contract to design, analyze, and fabricate prototypes of cask and buffer railcars to transport spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

This is the main body of the Phase 2 final report. There are a number of appendices referenced in the main body that will be posted to CURIE at a later time.

This report documents work performed under the Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology program. This work was performed to fulfill the Level 2 Milestone M2SF-17OR010201021, “Documentation of Non-destructive Tests on Sister Pins,” within work package SF-17OR01020102.

10 CFR 63.2 defines the geologic repository operations area (GROA) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as “a high-level radioactive waste facility that is part of a geologic repository, including both surface and subsurface areas, where waste handling activities are conducted.” A general description of the GROA and its location, the general nature of the activities to be performed at the GROA, and the basis for the exercise of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing authority over a geologic repository are presented in Sections 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, respectively.

The question of whether or not consolidated interim storage of commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) should be part of the federal waste management system as an intermediate step before permanent disposal has been debated for more than four decades. This paper summarizes an evaluation of the cost implications of incorporating a consolidated interim storage facility (ISF) into the waste management system (WMS). In this study, the order-of-magnitude estimates of total system costs were calculated and tabulated.

This report evaluates how the economic environment (i.e., discount rate, inflation rate, escalation rate) can impact previously estimated differences in lifecycle costs between an integrated waste management system with an interim storage facility (ISF) and a similar system without an ISF. The costs analyzed in this report are based on the document entitled Cost Implications of an Interim Storage Facility in the Waste Management System, a systems study comparing the “constant dollar” future lifecycle costs of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management system scenarios.

This report provides an evaluation of the cost implications of incorporating a consolidated interim storage facility (ISF) into the waste management system (WMS). Specifically, the impacts of the timing of opening an ISF relative to opening a repository were analyzed to understand the potential effects on total system costs.

The report, Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Inventory Report(FCRDNFST- 2013-000263, Rev.4), provides information on the inventory of commercial spent fuel, referred to in this report as used nuclear fuel (UNF), as well as Government-owned UNF and High Level Waste (HLW) in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Inventory forecasts for commercial UNF were made for a few selected scenarios of future commercial nuclear power generation involving the existing reactor fleet including one scenario involving reactors under construction.