An Account of the Programs of Federal Agencies and Events That Have Led to the Selection of a Potential Site for a Geologic Repository for High-Level Radioactive Waste

On the historic evidence, but also for the distinctive qualities of the challenge, nuclear waste siting conflicts are assuredly among the most refractory in the large variety of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) facility siting disputes. Since the president brought the Yucca Mountain process to a halt in 2010 (or, more accurately, issued its death certificate), the search for a permanent waste fuel repository is at the starting line again.

The Analysis of the Total System Life Cycle Cost (TSLCC) of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program represents the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's most recent estimate of the costs to dispose of the Nations's spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). This TSLCC analysis projects all Program costs through 2119 for a surrogate, single potential repository. The design and emplacement concepts in this TSLCC analysis are the same as those presented in the Monitored Geologic Repository Project Description Document.

This validation report supports the issuance of the Total System Model (TSM) Version 6.0 (Bechtel SAIC, LLC (BSC) 2007a) that is described in the TSM User Manual (UM) (BSC 2007b) and the TSM Pre-Processor (TSMPP) UM (BSC 2007c), and other supporting documentation in References BSC 2007d, BSC 2007e, 2007f, and 2007g. This report assumes the reader has detailed, working knowledge of the TSM functions and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System (CRWMS) operations.

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 validation report supports the issuance of Version 6.0 of the Total System Model (TSM BSC-2007a) that is described in the TSM User’s Manual (UM) (BSC-2007b) and the TSM Preprocessor (TSMPP) UM (BSC 2007c). This report assumes the reader has detailed working knowledge of the TSM functions and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System (CRWMS) operations.
This validation was performed in accordance with AP-ENG-006, Total System Model (TSM)- Changes to Configuration Items and Base Case.

The "Summary Report of Commercial Reactor Criticality Data for Catawba Unit 1" contains the detailed information necessary to perform commercial reactor criticality (CRC) analyses for the Catawba Unit 1 reactor.

In the November 1989 Report to Congress on Reassessment of the Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management Program (DOE/RW-0247), the Secretary of Energy
announced an initiative for developing a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility
that is to start spent-fuel acceptance in 1998. This facility, which will be licensed by
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), will receive spent fuel from
commercial nuclear power plants and provide a limited amount of storage for this

Taking credit for the reduced reactivity of spent nuclear fuel in criticality analyses is referred to
as burnup credit. Criticality safety evaluations employing burnup credit require validation of the
depletion and criticality calculation methods and computer codes with available measurement
data. To address the issues of burnup credit criticality validation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission initiated a project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to (1) develop and establish