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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Status and Plans - 2012 - 12049

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository for safe disposal of long-lived transuranic radioactive waste related to the nation's defense, is completing its 12. year of operations. WIPP's mission includes coordination of all Department of Energy (DOE) sites to prepare, package and characterize transuranic (TRU) waste for final shipment and emplacement in WIPP. Five of the 10 disposal panels planned have been filled and sealed from ventilation. Additional small quantity sites have been de-inventoried by consolidating their waste through the certified characterization line at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). New emplacement methods for RH waste in shielded containers are being considered for disposal by WIPP's regulatory authorities. A new large Type B shipping package, was added to the WIPP transportation fleet, and facility modifications to the WIPP waste unloading and emplacement processes for large containers were completed in 2011. Shipments from the Savannah River site in these new large rectangular packages began in August 2011. Licensing efforts are proceeding for a new criticality control over-pack container that will allow almost twice the fissile content to be shipped than previously. This will reduce the number and cost of shipments of Special Nuclear Material (SNM) declared as waste. Modifications to WIPP regulatory requirements for the disposal footprint and disposal unit closure systems are in progress. These, and other developments, make for exciting times at WIPP. This paper provides an up-to-date look at the many aspects of America's only deep geologic long-lived radioactive waste repository, which is completing its 12. year of operations. A record year of safe and compliant shipments to WIPP tops the list of accomplishments in 2011. Four more small quantity sites were de-inventoried by consolidating their waste through the certified characterization line at INL in 2011. A new Type B shipping package, the TRUPACT-III has been added to the transportation fleet, and large waste boxes are being shipped from SRS without the need for repackaging. New emplacement methods for remote-handled waste in shielded containers are undergoing regulatory review. WIPP plans to license a new criticality control payload container that will allow almost twice the fissile content to be shipped than previously, thereby reducing the number and cost of shipments of SNM declared as waste. Other regulatory modifications planned in 2012 include approval of a design change that would replace the disposal concept for panels 9 and 10 from using the common access drifts (the 'mains') with a new footprint south of panels 4 and 5. DOE also plans to change the panel closure design set forth in its certification by EPA and the HWFP by the NMED. The panel closure design change will be a rule making under EPA's procedures and a class 3 permit modification request under NMED procedures. Plans for achieving 90% of legacy TRU waste retrieval and emplacement in WIPP by 2015 have been developed. Key to the success of this so-called 90/15 plan is adequate funding, both for WIPP operations, as well as for TRU retrieval programs at the generator sites. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2015

An experimental program to characterize confined explosions of hydrogen/oxygen mixtures in the context of radioactive material transport between CEA nuclear facilities - 15125

CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, carries out a variety of nuclear research programs in many research reactors and nuclear facilities, decommissioning and dismantling operations that require multiple transports of different type of radioactive material such as radioactive waste or experimental fuel rods using a wide range of transportation packages. Packages are designed, constructed and operated to meet safety and regulatory requirements and must be approved by the French Safety Authority. Application for package approval (e.g. type B package) requires a complete and thorough safety demonstration in which flammable gas generation like radiolysis has become a major issue in the last few years. To face these challenges, the CEA unit in charge of transport package construction and transport operations (CEA/STMR, Cadarache Center, France), has developed a many-sided approach based on one hand on a better knowledge of both hydrogen gas generation and oxygen consumption in waste materials, and on the other hand, on design of transport packages or waste containers capable of withstanding dynamic pressure loads due to an inner hydrogen/air mixture explosion. This paper describes the experimental program that CEA/STMR has decided to implement in order to better characterize confined space explosions of hydrogen/oxygen mixtures. It presents how pressure profiles were experimentally measured in various pressure and temperature conditions which are representative of normal and accident transport conditions. It describes how different experimental set-ups were designed and improved progressively so as to obtain reliable and reproducible detonation conditions, investigate the influence of water vapor and characterize pressure profiles (peak pressure, residual pressure, peak duration). This experimental data will be used to qualify computational models and tools that are used to calculate the structural response of waste containers or fuel canisters, and finally demonstrate the safety of transport packages following an inner hydrogen explosion. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2020

Spent Nuclear Fuel and Reprocessing Waste Inventory

This report provides information on the inventory of commercial spent fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste in the United States, as well as non-commercial SNF and reprocessing waste in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Actual or estimated quantitative values for current inventories are provided along with inventory forecasts derived from examining different future commercial nuclear power generation scenarios. The report also includes select information on the characteristics associated with the wastes examined (e.g., type, packaging, heat generation rate, decay curves).

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NASA NTRS2001

The Challenges in the Development of a Long Duration Space Mission Food System

The Advanced Food System at Johnson Space Center/NASA will be responsible for supplying food to the crew for long duration exploratory missions. These missions require development of both a Transit Food System and of a Planetary Food System. The Transit Food System will consist of pre-packaged food of extended shelf life. It will be supplemented with salad crops that will be consumed fresh. The challenge is to develop a food system with a shelf life of 3 - 5 years that will use minimal power and create minimal waste from the food packaging. The Planetary Food System will allow for food processing of crops grown on the planetary surface due to the presence of some gravitational force. Crops will be processed to final products to provide a nutritious and acceptable diet for the crew. The food system must be flexible due to crop variation, availability, and shelf life. Crew meals, based on thesc: crops, must be nutritious, high quality, safe, and contain variety. The Advanced Food System becomes a fulcrum creating the right connection from crops to crew meals while dealing with issues of integration within a closed self-regenerative system (e.g., safety, waste production, volumes, water usage, etc.).

Perchonok, Michele H.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Inventory Report

This report provides information on the inventory of commercial spent fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in the United States, as well as non-commercial SNF and HLW in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Actual or estimated quantitative values for current inventories are provided along with inventory forecasts derived from examining different future commercial nuclear power generation scenarios. The report also includes select information on the characteristics associated with the wastes examined (e.g., type, packaging, heat generation rate, decay curves). This report was produced for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support various analyses on options for storage and transport of SNF and HLW and sponsored by DOE’s Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition (SFWD). The report draws from and complements a previously issued report, Fuel Cycle Potential Waste Inventory for Disposition, developed for DOE’s Used Nuclear Fuel Research & Development Campaign. The current report is not intended as a revision to either Fuel Cycle Potential Waste Inventory for Disposition or Evaluation of Options for Permanent Geologic Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Support of a Comprehensive National Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategy from which some underlying data is used as referenced in the current report. Rather, this report is intended as a stand-alone report providing estimates of current and projected SNF and HLW inventory and has been generated for SFWD planning purposes. This is a technical report that does not take into account contractual limitations or obligations under the Standard Contract for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste (Standard Contract) (10 CFR Part 961). For example, under the provisions of the Standard Contract, spent nuclear fuel in multi-assembly canisters is not an acceptable waste form, absent a mutually agreed to contract amendment. To the extent discussions or recommendations in this report conflict with the provisions of the Standard Contract, the Standard Contract governs the obligations of the parties, and this report in no manner supersedes, overrides, or amends the Standard Contract. This report reflects technical work which could support future decision making by DOE. No inferences should be drawn from this report regarding future actions by DOE, which are limited both by the terms of the Standard Contract and a lack of Congressional appropriations for the Department to fulfill its obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act including licensing and construction of a spent nuclear fuel repository.

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DOE OSTI2018

Systems and Tools to Facilitate Aging Management Inspections of Used Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Systems - 18382

The Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF) dry storage systems (DSSs) are currently used at almost all the nuclear plants in the USA for the storage of their UNF as the spent fuel pools are running out of capacity to store any additional discharged fuel. Even though these DSSs are supposed to be at the reactor site for a short amount of time, they are expected to be at the reactor sites for an extended duration due to the unavailability of Interim Storage Facilities (ISF) or a permanent disposal sites like Yucca Mountain. Maintaining the integrity of the DSS canisters and storage overpacks so they can safely protect the fuel and maintain the integrity of UNF is of utmost importance during storage at reactor site ISFSI or at the ISF. Comprehensive and robust Aging Management Program (AMP) is an important aspect for DSSs to satisfy these requirements. In order to address this industry need, TN Americas have developed an enhanced NUHOMS{sup R} DSS licensed by NRC under 10 CFR Part 72 regulations and a comprehensive AMP development which includes prevention, inspection, monitoring and mitigation of any corrosion or degradation of DSS components. For DSC and HSM inspection, two remotely operating delivery systems have been developed using non-destructive examination (NDE) methods including robotic crawler and inspection ring system. This paper describes details of these developments and status of their deployment for implementation at various utility ISFSI sites. TN Americas completed the detailed design of the DSC inspection system and conducted functional tests of the inspection system on a DSC mockup and the system is ready for deployment at any NUHOMS{sup R} ISFSI site. TN Americas is committed to offer the most robust and comprehensive AMP systems, tools and services to the industry to assure the safety of the deployed DSS at the utility sites. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2021

Spent Nuclear Fuel and Reprocessing Waste Inventory

This report provides information on the inventory of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in the United States located at Nuclear Power Reactor (NPR) and Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) sites, as well as SNF and reprocessing waste located at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites and other research and development (R&D) centers. Actual or estimated quantitative values for current inventories are provided along with inventory forecasts derived from examining different future nuclear power generation scenarios. The report also includes select information on the characteristics associated with the wastes examined (e.g., type, packaging, heat generation rate, decay curves).

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DOE OSTI2016

Integrated Disposal Facility FY2011 Glass Testing Summary Report. Erratum

This report refers to or contains K g values for glasses LAWA44, LAWB45 and LAWC22 affected by calculations errors as identified by Papathanassiu et al. (2011). The corrected K g values are reported in an erratum included in the revised version of the original report. The revised report can be referenced as follows: Pierce E. M. et al. (2004) Waste Form Release Data Package for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. PNNL-14805 Rev. 0 Erratum. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

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DOE OSTI2016

Laboratory Testing of Bulk Vitrified Low-Activity Waste Forms to Support the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. Erratum

This report refers to or contains K g values for glasses LAWA44, LAWB45 and LAWC22 affected by calculations errors as identified by Papathanassiu et al. (2011). The corrected K g values are reported in an erratum included in the revised version of the original report. The revised report can be referenced as follows: Pierce E. M. et al. (2004) Waste Form Release Data Package for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. PNNL-14805 Rev. 0 Erratum. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

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DOE OSTI2016

Sensitivity Analysis of Kinetic Rate-Law Parameters Used to Simulate Long-Term Weathering of ILAW Glass. Erratum

This report refers to or contains K g values for glasses LAWA44, LAWB45 and LAWC22 affected by calculations errors as identified by Papathanassiu et al. (2011). The corrected K g values are reported in an erratum included in the revised version of the original report. The revised report can be referenced as follows: Pierce E. M. et al. (2004) Waste Form Release Data Package for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. PNNL-14805 Rev. 0 Erratum. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

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DOE OSTI2016

Waste Form Release Calculations for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. Erratum

This report refers to or contains K g values for glasses LAWA44, LAWB45 and LAWC22 affected by calculations errors as identified by Papathanassiu et al. (2011). The corrected K g values are reported in an erratum included in the revised version of the original report. The revised report can be referenced as follows: Pierce E. M. et al. (2004) Waste Form Release Data Package for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. PNNL-14805 Rev. 0 Erratum. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

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DOE OSTI2016

Integrated Disposal Facility FY 2012 Glass Testing Summary Report, Erratum

This report refers to or contains K g values for glasses LAWA44, LAWB45 and LAWC22 affected by calculations errors as identified by Papathanassiu et al. (2011) The corrected K g values are reported in an erratum included in the revised version of the original report. The revised report can be referenced as follows: Pierce E. M. et al. (2004) Waste Form Release Data Package for the 2005 Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment. PNNL-14805 Rev. 0 Erratum. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

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DOE OSTI2025

Processes in Salt Repositories for Radioactive Waste Disposal

This document summarizes the key processes (thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical; THMC) impacting the features of a deep geological repository for radioactive waste in salt. Some processes are natural and on-going whether the repository is there or not, and other processes are driven by the perturbation associated with the repository. The features considered here include both engineered and natural components of the repository system. The engineered barrier system (EBS) in a salt repository is quite different from those implemented for a repository in clay or crystalline rocks, because it is comprised mostly of granular salt and salt-compatible cements, rather than bentonite. When compared to other rocks (i.e., silicates), salt has unique properties that make it an excellent potential host rock. Openings and fractures in salt creep closed readily. Salt has high thermal conductivity, which can reduce peak temperatures. Additionally, far away from the excavations the porosity of salt is unconnected, which leads to essentially zero advective or diffusive transport. The small amount of hypersaline brine occurring in salt minimizes microbial activity, reduces colloid-assisted transport, and eliminates in-package criticality (i.e., chloride is a neutron poison). At the end of the report, we present a brief outline for a potential salt repository, including considerations avoided in previous repository disposal concepts. We propose considering higher-temperature processes in future disposal concepts, rather than trying to minimize the thermal perturbation of the repository. Since hot salt is drier, a dry repository would limit corrosion, gas generation, and solute transport. Openings and fractures creep shut faster in hot salt. Therefore, higher temperatures could be seen as beneficial, rather than something to minimize, through increased spacing between waste packages (increasing repository costs).

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DOE OSTI2020

Hydraulic Properties Data Package for the E-Area Soils, Cementitious Materials, and Waste Zones–Update

Hydraulic property estimates for the soils, cementitious materials, and waste zones associated with the E-Area low-level radioactive waste disposal units have been provided to support the Performance Assessments (PA) for the E-Area Low-Level Waste Facility (LLWF). Nominal or “best estimate” hydraulic property values for use in the deterministic modeling are provided along with representations of the hydraulic property value uncertainty for use in sensitivity and uncertainty modeling. The hydraulic properties provided for each of the E-Area materials include: porosity ( η ), dry bulk density ( ρ b ), particle density (ρ p ), saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K sat ), characteristic curves (suction head, saturation, and relative permeability), and effective diffusion coefficient ( D e ). A representation of the uncertainty associated with each property, except for the characteristic curves, is provided for each material, except for the E-Area waste zones. These nominal parameter values for each of the E-Area soils, cementitious materials, and waste zones, and, where indicated, parameter uncertainty representations, are based upon the following in order of priority: Site-specific field data, Site-specific laboratory data, Similarity to material with site-specific field or laboratory data, and Literature data. Additionally, a methodology to represent long-term concrete degradation is provided. Finally, because much of the nominal hydraulic property values and uncertainty representations for the E-Area soils, cementitious materials, and waste zones are based on similarity to other materials or literature data, a methodology to prioritize additional work to better define these values and representations is outlined. Prioritization should be based on the importance of the material and/or property to the results of deterministic, sensitivity, and uncertainty modeling. This prioritization should be established through a process of sensitivity modeling. This report supersedes the previous hydraulic properties data package. Revision 1 contains clarifications, updates and corrections to text, figures and tables in a number of places in the report along with some minor editing.

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DOE OSTI2011

Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems: Project overview and main results

Highlights: > The source separation level (SSL) of waste management system does not qualify adequately the system. > Separately collecting organic waste gives less advantages than packaging materials. > Recycling packaging materials (metals, glass, plastics, paper) is always attractive. > Composting and anaerobic digestion of organic waste gives questionable outcomes. > The critical threshold of optimal recycling seems to be a SSL of 50%. - Abstract: This paper describes the context, the basic assumptions and the main findings of a joint research project aimed at identifying the optimal breakdown between material recovery and energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW) in the framework of integrated waste management systems (IWMS). The project was carried out from 2007 to 2009 by five research groups at Politecnico di Milano, the Universities of Bologna and Trento, and the Bocconi University (Milan), with funding from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Since the optimization of IWMSs by analytical methods is practically impossible, the search for the most attractive strategy was carried out by comparing a number of relevant recovery paths from the point of view of mass and energy flows, technological features, environmental impact and economics. The main focus has been on mature processes applicable to MSW in Italy and Europe. Results show that, contrary to a rather widespread opinion, increasing the source separation level (SSL) has a very marginal effects on energy efficiency. What does generate very significant variations in energy efficiency is scale, i.e. the size of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant. The mere value of SSL is inadequate to qualify the recovery system. The energy and environmental outcome of recovery depends not only on 'how much' source separation is carried out, but rather on 'how' a given SSL is reached.

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DOE OSTI2018

The NAC-SMP - a Next Generation Transformation Package - 18391

NAC International Inc. (NAC) is developing a Small Multi-Purpose (SMP) Type B(U)F-96 transportation cask designed with flexibility and cost-efficiency objectives to support shipment of a wide range of wastes with fissile material contents. The NAC-SMP package is a small, modular design that meets US DOT weight limits for road transport. Contents can be accommodated in multiple configurations including standard drums of up to 416 liters (110 U.S. gallons) in capacity. The package will also accommodate unique waste contents and fuel designs where cost-effective packaging options have been a challenge. The NAC-SMP development goals include simplicity of design and operational flexibility to meet Type B requirements. In particular, the cask body is designed to satisfy the dimensional and mass constraints, shielding requirements, and general transport requirements for a variety of contents under 10 CFR 71 and IAEA SSR-6 regulations. Flexibility is assured by the cask's modular design, which consists of multiple vessels to provide containment, shielding and overpack capability. The containment boundary design permits adaptability to content requirements by relying on interchangeable internal components for secondary containment, supplemental shielding and shoring, as required. In this paper, NAC provides an overview of the NAC-SMP cask and identifies the design features and technology advancements that makes the cask a readily adaptable and flexible solution for packaging US DOE and other orphan wastes, and to enable the integration of these wastes into the waste management system process and disposition infrastructure. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

National Plan for the Disposal of Existing and Future TRU Wastes - 18616

Now that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has re-opened, after being down for three years due to an accident the DOE National TRU Program has re-developed a plan for the disposal of existing and future TRU wastes. The National TRU Waste Management Plan (NTWMP) is an integrated plan to address the needs of DOE sites across the DOE Weapons Complex that create and store TRU waste, and is centered on the capability of WIPP to receive and dispose of TRU waste. The WIPP capability is planned as a weekly shipping rate and is defined by emplacement and receipt rate capabilities since WIPP is not permitted for long-term storage. And, shipping rates may be constrained by new WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) and future plans for repository configurations and disposal package capabilities over the next 30 years. Since WIPP is the only disposal system available to the DOE for TRU waste disposal, DOE has a newly projected life-cycle need for WIPP to remain open and available up to 2050. It is projected that the need for WIPP will continue up to the year 2050 for the disposition of the remaining legacy TRU inventories and for the disposal of TRU waste continuing to be generated at DOE's National Laboratories. In addition, there are several other potential new waste streams in which WIPP is being considered an alternative solution for their disposition. The NTWMP has been updated to reflect the short-term and long-term plans for TRU waste disposal at WIPP. The short-term plan is used by DOE for budget projection and integration purposes to facilitate and inform budget planning, both in DOE's Environmental Management (EM) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) organizations. Most legacy TRU waste (generated in the past and stored at DOE sites today) is owned and managed by EM. And, EM submits integrated budget requests for DOE sites, including the integration of resources for TRU waste management. NNSA and DOE's Office of Science (OS) funds TRU waste management as part of their mission funding and NNSA should eventually be the primary user of the WIPP resources as EM's legacy TRU waste is cleaned-up. Prior to the unexpected shutdown of WIPP in 2014, there was a small back-log of waste certified for WIPP disposal and shipments of TRU waste to WIPP were 'just-in-time' as waste was certified. After three years of WIPP being down, DOE sites have built significant back-logs of TRU waste to be certified for WIPP. That back-log built up to over 25,000 containers of TRU waste during that three-year period (Table 1). The backlog included both Contact-Handled (CH) TRU waste and Remote-Handled (RH) TRU waste, and even though WIPP re-opened in April of 2017, it is only open for TRU waste containers that can be stacked on disposal room floors. Plans for changing RH waste disposal packages and methods are in-the-works, but are not yet mature enough for significant planning. In addition, the WIPP underground facilities are now partially contaminated with radioactive particulate, which significantly reduces the WIPP operational efficiencies as compared to 2014. With a large back-log of waste ready for WIPP disposal and limited throughput for WIPP disposal rates, the focus of the NTWMP is to prioritize the selection of TRU wastes from the various sites based on WIPP waste emplacement rates and shipping rates to WIPP. Some TRU waste sites have a significant need to be top priority for shipments to WIPP, and that must be balanced with the need for all TRU waste sites to have some shipments to deplete their back-log of TRU wastes. Storage and management of TRU waste is very costly for DOE and many of those resources could be used to optimize the overall disposition of TRU waste and save DOE significant funding. In addition, the plan will show the possible transition of TRU Waste Management from primarily being an EM function to being an NNSA function in the coming years. As legacy TRU waste inventories are removed, and as NNSA mission-related TRU waste inventories are produced, DOE will be faced with deciding where the primary responsibility for TRU waste management should reside. (author)

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