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.

Potentially corrosive environments may form on the surface of spent nuclear fuel dry storage canisters by deliquescence of deposited dusts. To assess this, samples of dust were collected from in-service dry storage canisters at two near-marine sites, the Hope Creek and Diablo Canyon storage installations, and have been characterized with respect to mineralogy, chemistry, and texture. At both sites, terrestrially-derived silicate minerals, including quartz, feldspars, micas, and clays, comprise the largest fraction of the dust.

In July, 2014, the Electric Power Research Institute and industry partners sampled dust on the surface of an unused canister that had been stored in an overpack at the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station for approximately one year. The foreign material exclusion (FME) cover that had been on the top of the canister during storage, and a second recently-removed FME cover, were also sampled. This report summarizes the results of analyses of dust samples collected from the unused Hope Creek canister and the FME covers.

In July, 2016, the Electric Power Research Institute and industry partners performed a field test at the Maine Yankee Nuclear Site, located near Wiscasset, Maine. The primary goal of the field test was to evaluate the use of robots in surveying the surface of an in-service interim storage canister within an overpack; however, as part of the demonstration, dust and soluble salt samples were collected from horizontal surfaces within the interim storage system.

From the Introduction: "Our strategy for development of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) transportation program is to collaborate with our stakeholders.

The Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste is a framework for moving toward a sustainable program to deploy an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of used nuclear fuel1 and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defense, national security and other activities.

This is a section of the Federal Budget for 2015.

This document is the result of a three year study performed by a think tank group, the National Commission on Energy Policy. It provides energy policy recommendations that include recommendations regarding nuclear power.