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At least 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Preparation for the Recovery of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) at Andreeva Bay, North West Russia - 13309

Andreeva Bay is located near Murmansk in the Russian Federation close to the Norwegian border. The ex-naval site was used to de-fuel nuclear-powered submarines and icebreakers during the Cold War. Approximately 22,000 fuel assemblies remain in three Dry Storage Units (DSUs) which means that Andreeva Bay has one of the largest stockpiles of highly enriched spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in the world. The high contamination and deteriorating condition of the SNF canisters has made improvements to the management of the SNF a high priority for the international community for safety, security and environmental reasons. International Donors have, since 2002, provided support to projects at Andreeva concerned with improving the management of the SNF. This long-term programme of work has been coordinated between the International Donors and responsible bodies within the Russian Federation. Options for the safe and secure management of SNF at Andreeva Bay were considered in 2004 and developed by a number of Russian Institutes with international participation. This consisted of site investigations, surveys and studies to understand the technical challenges. A principal agreement was reached that the SNF would be removed from the site altogether and transported to Russia's reprocessing facility at Mayak in the Urals. The analytical studies provided the information necessary to develop the construction plan for the site. Following design and regulatory processes, stakeholders endorsed the technical solution in April 2007. This detailed the processes, facilities and equipment required to safely remove the SNF and identified other site services and support facilities required on the site. Implementation of this strategy is now well underway with the facilities in various states of construction. Physical works have been performed to address the most urgent tasks including weather protection over one of the DSUs, installation of shielding over the cells, provision of radiation protection infrastructure and general preparation of the site for construction of the facilities for the removal of the SNF. This paper describes the development and implementation of the strategy and work to improve the safe and secure management of SNF, preparing it for retrieval and removal from Andreeva Bay. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2013

Evaluation of Radiation Impacts of Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage (SNFS-2) of Chernobyl NPP - 13495

Radiation effects are estimated for the operation of a new dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel (SNFS-2) of Chernobyl NPP RBMK reactors. It is shown that radiation exposure during normal operation, design and beyond design basis accidents are minor and meet the criteria for safe use of radiation and nuclear facilities in Ukraine. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2013

Exploratory Design of a Reactor/Fuel Cycle Using Spent Nuclear Fuel Without Conventional Reprocessing - 13579

General Atomics has started design of a waste to energy nuclear reactor (EM2) that can use light water reactor (LWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF). This effort addresses two problems: using an advanced small reactor with long core life to reduce nuclear energy overnight cost and providing a disposal path for LWR SNF. LWR SNF is re-fabricated into new EM2 fuel using a dry voloxidation process modeled on AIROX/ OREOX processes which remove some of the fission products but no heavy metals. By not removing all of the fission products the fuel remains self-protecting. By not separating heavy metals, the process remains proliferation resistant. Implementation of Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) fuel cycle will provide low cost nuclear energy while providing a long term LWR SNF disposition path which is important for LWR waste confidence. With LWR waste confidence recent impacts on reactor licensing, an alternate disposition path is highly relevant. Centered on a reactor operating at 250 MWe, the compact electricity generating system design maximizes site flexibility with truck transport of all system components and available dry cooling features that removes the need to be located near a body of water. A high temperature system using helium coolant, electricity is efficiently produced using an asynchronous high-speed gas turbine while the LWR SNF is converted to fission products. Reactor design features such as vented fuel and silicon carbide cladding support reactor operation for decades between refueling, with improved fuel utilization. Beyond the reactor, the fuel cycle is designed so that subsequent generations of EM2 reactor fuel will use the previous EM2 discharge, providing its own waste confidence plus eliminating the need for enrichment after the first generation. Additional LWR SNF is added at each re-fabrication to replace the removed fission products. The fuel cycle uses a dry voloxidation process for both the initial LWR SNF re-fabrication and later for EM2 discharge reuse. The EM2 waste disposal profile is effectively only fission products, which reduces the mass (about 3% vs LWR), average half life, heat and long term radio-toxicity of the disposal. Widespread implementation of EM2 fuel cycle is highly significant as it would increase world energy reserves; the remaining energy in U.S. LWR SNF alone exceeds that in the U.S. natural gas reserves. Unlike many LWR SNF disposition concepts, the EM2 fuel cycle conversion of SNF produces energy and associated revenue such that the overall project is cost effective. By providing conversion of SNF to fission products the fuel cycle is closed and a non-repository LWR SNF disposition path is created and overall repository requirements are significantly reduced. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Spent fuel storage and waste management fuel cycle optimization using CAFCA

Spent fuel storage modeling is at the intersection of nuclear fuel cycle system dynamics and waste management policy. A model that captures the economic parameters affecting used nuclear fuel storage location options, which complements fuel cycle economic assessment has been created using CAFCA (Code for Advanced Fuel Cycles Assessment) of MIT. Research has also expanded to the study on dependency of used nuclear fuel storage economics, environmental impact, and proliferation risk. Three options of local, regional, and national storage were studied. The preliminary product of this research is the creation of a system dynamics tool known as the Waste Management Module which provides an easy to use interface for education on fuel cycle waste management economic impacts. Storage options costs can be compared to literature values with simple variation available for sensitivity study. Additionally, a first of a kind optimization scheme for the nuclear fuel cycle analysis is proposed and the applications of such an optimization are discussed. The main tradeoff for fuel cycle optimization was found to be between economics and most of the other identified metrics. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2013

Study on partitioning and transmutation as a possible option for spent fuel management within a nuclear phase-out scenario

Most Partitioning and Transmutation (PT) studies implicitly presuppose the continuous use of nuclear energy. In this case the development of new facilities or the modification of the fuel cycle can be justified in the long-term as an important feature in order to improve sustainability by minimizing radioactive waste and reducing the burden at waste disposal. In the case of a country with nuclear energy phase-out policy, the PT option might have also an important role for what concerns the final disposal strategies of the spent fuel. In this work three selected scenarios are analyzed in order to assess the impact of PT implementation in a nuclear energy phase out option. The scenarios are: -) Scenario 1: Identification of Research/Development activities needs for a technological development of PT while postponing the decision of PT implementation; -) Scenario 2: Isolated application of PT in a phase-out context; and -) Scenario 3: Implementation of PT in a European context. In order to facilitate the discrimination among the 3 scenarios, a number of figures of indicators have been evaluated for each scenario. The selected indicators are: the mass of High Level Waste (HLW), Uranium inventory, thermal output of HLW, Radiotoxicity, Fuel cycle secondary waste associated to the PT operation, and Facility capacity/number requirements. The reduction, due to PT implementation, of high level wastes masses and their associated volumes can be significant. For what concerns the thermal output and radiotoxicity a significant impact can be also expected. However, when assessing these two indicators the contribution coming from already vitrified waste should also not be neglected. Moreover, an increase of secondary waste inventory is also expected. On the contrary, the increase of fission product inventories due to the operation of the transmutation system has a relatively limited impact on the fuel cycle.

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DOE OSTI2013

Performance assessment for the geological disposal of Deep Burn spent fuel using TTBX

The behavior of Deep Burn Modular High Temperature Reactor Spent Fuel (DBSF) is investigated in the Yucca Mountain geological repository (YMR) with respect to the annual dose (Sv/yr) delivered to the Reasonably Maximally Exposed Individual (RMEI) from the transport of radionuclides released from the graphite waste matrix. Transport calculations are performed with a novel computer code, TTBX which is capable of modeling transport pathways that pass through heterogeneous geological formations. TTBX is a multi-region extension of the existing single region TTB transport code. Overall the peak annual dose received by the RMEI is seen to be four orders of magnitude lower than the regulatory threshold for exposure, even under pessimistic scenarios. A number of factors contribute to the favorable performance of DBSF. A reduction of one order of magnitude in the peak annual dose received by the RMEI is observed for every order of magnitude increase in the waste matrix lifetime, highlighting the importance of the waste matrix durability and suggesting graphite's utility as a potential waste matrix for the disposal of high-level waste. Furthermore, we see that by incorporating a higher fidelity far-field model the peak annual dose calculated to be received by the RMEI is reduced by two orders of magnitude. By accounting for the heterogeneities of the far field we have simultaneously removed unnecessary conservatisms and improved the fidelity of the transport model. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2013

Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing modeling

The long-term wide development of nuclear power requires new approaches towards the realization of nuclear fuel cycle, namely, closed nuclear fuel cycle (CNFC) with respect to fission materials. Plant nuclear fuel cycle (PNFC), which is in fact the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel unloaded from the reactor and the production of new nuclear fuel (NF) at the same place together with reactor plant, can be one variant of CNFC. Developing and projecting of PNFC is a complicated high-technology innovative process that requires modern information support. One of the components of this information support is developed by the authors. This component is the programme conducting calculations for various variants of process flow sheets for reprocessing SNF and production of NF. Central in this programme is the blocks library, where the blocks contain mathematical description of separate processes and operations. The calculating programme itself has such a structure that one can configure the complex of blocks and correlations between blocks, appropriate for any given flow sheet. For the ready sequence of operations balance calculations are made of all flows, i.e. expenses, element and substance makeup, heat emission and radiation rate are determined. The programme is open and the block library can be updated. This means that more complicated and detailed models of technological processes will be added to the library basing on the results of testing processes using real equipment, in test operating mode. The development of the model for the realization of technical-economic analysis of various variants of technologic PNFC schemes and the organization of 'operator's advisor' is expected. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2013

New method of uranium and plutonium extraction in reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel

It is shown that a two-stage process of uranium and plutonium extraction during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel solves the problem of obtaining a high-concentrated extract without increasing the loss risk with raffinate and avoids the accumulation of plutonium in the unit. A possible further optimization of the process would be the creation of steps inside the stages.

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DOE OSTI2012

Physical Protection of Spent Fuel Shipments: Resolution of Stakeholder Concerns Through Rulemaking - 12284

In 1999, the State of Nevada brought its concerns about physical protection of current spent nuclear fuel (SNF) shipments, and future SNF shipments to a federal repository, before the NRC in a 1999 petition for rulemaking (PRM-73-10). In October 2010, the NRC published a rulemaking decision which would significantly strengthen physical protection of SNF in transit. The newest articulation of the rule (10 CFR 73.37) incorporates regulatory clarifications and security enhancements requested in Nevada's 1999 petition for rulemaking, codifies the findings of the Nuclear NRC and DOE consequence analyses into policy guidance documents and brings forward into regulations the agency and licensee experience gained since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Although at present DOE SNF shipments would continue to be exempt from these NRC regulations, Nevada considers the rule to constitute a largely satisfactory resolution to stakeholder concerns raised in the original petition and in subsequent comments submitted to the NRC. This paper reviews the process of regulatory changes, assesses the specific improvements contained in the new rules and briefly describes the significance of the new rule in the context of a future national nuclear waste management program. Nevada's petition for rulemaking led to a generally satisfactory resolution of the State's concerns. The decade plus timeframe from petition to rulemaking conclusion saw a sea change in many aspects of the relevant issues - perhaps most importantly the attacks on 9/11 led to the recognition by regulatory bodies that a new threat environment exists wherein shipments of SNF and HLW pose a viable target for human initiated events. The State of Nevada has always considered security a critical concern for the transport of these highly radioactive materials. This was one of the primary reasons for the original rulemaking petition and subsequent advocacy by Nevada on related issues. NRC decisions on the majority of the concerns expressed in the petition, additional developments by other regulatory bodies and the change in how the United States sees threats to the homeland - all of these produced a satisfactory resolution through the rulemaking process. While not all of the concerns expressed by Nevada were addressed in the proposed rule and significant challenges face any programmatic shipment campaign in the future, the lesson learned on this occasion is that stakeholder concerns can be resolved through rulemaking. If DOE would engage with stakeholders on its role in transport of SNF and HLW under the NWPA, these concerns would be better addressed. Specifically the attempts by DOE to resist transportation and security regulations now considered necessary by the NRC for the adequate protection of the shipments of highly radioactive materials, these DOE efforts seem ill advised. One clear lesson learned from this successful rulemaking petition process is that the system of stakeholder input can work to better the regulatory environment. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2012

Principles of Product Quality Control of German Radioactive Waste Forms from the Reprocessing of Spent Fuel: Vitrification, Compaction and Numerical Simulation - 12529

The German product quality control is inter alia responsible for control of two radioactive waste forms of heat generating waste: a) homogeneous vitrified HLW and b) heterogeneous compacted hulls, end-pieces and technological metallic waste. In either case, significantly different metrology is employed at the site of the conditioning plant for the obligatory nuclide inventory declaration. To facilitate an independent evaluation and checking of the accompanying documentation numerical simulations are carried out. The physical and chemical properties of radioactive waste residues are used to assess the data consistency and uncertainty margins, as well as to predict the long-term behavior of the radioactive waste. This is relevant for repository acceptance and safety considerations. Our new numerical approach follows a bottom-up simulation starting from the burn-up behavior of the fuel elements in the reactor core. The output of these burn-up calculations is then coupled with a program that simulates the material separation in the subsequent dissolution and extraction processes normalized to the mass balance. Follow-up simulations of the separated reprocessing lines of a) the vitrification of highly-active liquid and b) the compaction of residual intermediate-active metallic hulls remaining after fuel pellets dissolution, end-pieces and technological waste, allows calculating expectation values for the various repository relevant properties of either waste stream. The principles of the German product quality control of radioactive waste residues from the spent fuel reprocessing have been introduced and explained. Namely, heat generating homogeneous vitrified HLW and heterogeneous compacted metallic MLW have been discussed. The advantages of a complementary numerical property simulation have been made clear and examples of benefits are presented. We have compiled a new program suite to calculate the physical and radio-chemical properties of common nuclear waste residues. The immediate benefit is the independent assessment of radio-active inventory declarations and much facilitated product quality control of waste residues that need to be returned to Germany and submitted to a German HLW-repository requirements. Wherever possible, internationally accepted standard programs are used and embedded. The innovative coupling of burn-up calculations (SCALE) with neutron and gamma transport codes (MCPN-X) allows an application in the world of virtual waste properties. If-then-else scenarios of hypothetical waste material compositions and distributions provide valuable information of long term nuclide property propagation under repository conditions over a very long time span. Benchmarking the program with real residue data demonstrates the power and remarkable accuracy of this numerical approach, boosting the reliability of the confidence aforementioned numerous applications, namely the proof tool set for on-the-spot production quality checking and data evaluation and independent verification. Moreover, using the numerical bottom-up approach helps to avoid the accumulation of fake activities that may gradually build up in a repository from the so-called conservative or penalizing nuclide inventory declarations. The radioactive waste properties and the hydrolytic and chemical stability can be predicted. The interaction with invasive chemicals can be assessed and propagation scenarios can be developed from reliable and sound data and HLW properties. Hence, the appropriate design of a future HLW repository can be based upon predictable and quality assured waste characteristics. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2012

NRC Technical Research Program to Evaluate Extended Storage and Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel - 12547

Any new direction proposed for the back-end of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) cycle will require storage of SNF beyond the current licensing periods. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has established a technical research program to determine if any changes in the 10 CFR part 71, and 72 requirements, and associated guidance might be necessary to regulate the safety of anticipated extended storage, and subsequent transport of SNF. This three part program of: 1) analysis of knowledge gaps in the potential degradation of materials, 2) short-term research and modeling, and 3) long-term demonstration of systems, will allow the NRC to make informed regulatory changes, and determine when and if additional monitoring and inspection of the systems is necessary. The NRC has started a research program to obtain data necessary to determine if the current regulatory guidance is sufficient if interim dry storage has to be extended beyond the currently approved licensing periods. The three-phased approach consists of: - the identification and prioritization of potential degradation of the components related to the safe operation of a dry cask storage system, - short-term research to determine if the initial analysis was correct, and - a long-term prototypic demonstration project to confirm the models and results obtained in the short-term research. The gap analysis has identified issues with the SCC of the stainless steel canisters, and SNF behavior. Issues impacting the SNF and canister internal performance such as high and low temperature distributions, and drying have also been identified. Research to evaluate these issues is underway. Evaluations have been conducted to determine the relative values that various types of long-term demonstration projects might provide. These projects or follow-on work is expected to continue over the next five years. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2015

Spent Fuel Assay with an Ultra-High Rate HPGe Spectrometer

Traditional verification of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) includes determination of initial enrichment, burnup and cool down time (IE, BU, CT). Along with neutron measurements, passive gamma assay provides important information for determining BU and CT. Other gamma-ray-based assay methods such as passive tomography and active delayed gamma offer the potential to measure the spatial distribution of fission products and the fissile isotopic concentration of the fuel, respectively. All fuel verification methods involving gamma-ray spectroscopy require that the spectrometers manage very high count rates while extracting the signatures of interest. PNNL has developed new digital filtering and analysis techniques to produce an ultra-high rate gamma-ray spectrometer from a standard coaxial high-purity germanium (HPGe) crystal. This 37% relative efficiency detector has been operated for SNF measurements at input count rates of 500-1300 kcps and throughput in excess of 150 kcps. Optimized filtering algorithms preserve the spectroscopic capability of the system even at these high rates. This paper will present the results of both passive and active SNF measurement performed with this system at PNNL. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

Spent nuclear fuel dynamic performance under normal conditions of transport

The objective of this project is to evaluate the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) vibration integrity under normal condition of transport. The SNF fatigue strength data has been collected from various pressurized water reactors. The CIRFT (Cyclic Integrated Reversible-Bending Fatigue Tester) has been used to simulate transportation environments. CIRFT is an enabling hot-cell testing technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The CIRFT consists mainly of a U-frame testing setup and a real-time curvature measurement method. The three-component U-frame setup of the CIRFT has two rigid arms and linkages to a universal testing machine. The curvature of rod bending is obtained through a three-point deflection measurement method. Three linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) are used and clamped to the side connecting plates of the U-frame to capture the deformation of the rod. CIRFT results have provided insight into the fuel/clad system response to transportation related loads. Because of the non-homogeneous composite structure of the SNF system, finite element analyses (FEA) are needed to translate the global moment-curvature measurement into local stress-strain profiles. The detailed mechanisms of the pellet-pellet and pellet-clad interactions and the stress concentration effects at the pellet-pellet interface cannot be readily obtained directly from a CIRFT system measurement. Therefore, detailed FEA is used to understand the global test response. The major findings of CIRFT test on the high burn-up SNF are as follows: -) SNF system interface bonding plays an important role in SNF vibration performance; -) Fuel structure contributes to the SNF system stiffness; -) There are significant variations in stress and curvature of SNF systems during vibration cycles resulting from segment pellets and clad interaction, and -) SNF failure initiates at the pellet-pellet interface region and appears to be spontaneous.

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DOE OSTI2016

Acoustic sensors devoted to the detection of leaking irradiated fuel rod in spent fuel pool

The acoustic sensor has been specially designed in order to provide a non-destructive technique to easily carry out the measurement of the internal gas pressure and gas composition of a LWR nuclear fuel rod. This sensor has been achieved in 2007 and is now covered by an international patent. In 2015, we presented a generation of acoustic sensors devoted to the characterization of fission gas. The gas composition can be defined with an uncertainty of about 1% and the pressure with an uncertainty of about 10 % (for around 50 bars and a gas mixture containing 20% Xe/Kr). This measurement is possible in hot laboratory facility using viscous liquid to couple the sensor with the rod. We develop a new acoustic sensor for an application in a spent fuel pool without viscous liquid to couple the sensor with the rod. This application consists in determining the default rod in a fuel assembly which has been declared 'no leak-proof' during the fuel discharging of the reactor. We develop a new method based on the detection of gas pressure drop into the fuel rod. This new method could replace the current one which is based on the detection of water into the fuel rod. The new generation of transducer and the associated methodology are now operational in laboratory for nondestructive measurement under water and enable to detect the gas pressure drop into the fuel rod. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2017

Development of Rail Accident Rates for Spent Nuclear Fuel Rail Shipments - 17088

A key factor in evaluating the safety of rail shipments involving the transport of commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is the development of transportation accident rates that are reflective of the unique characteristics associated with these train operations. Typical rail freight operations may involve consists of a hundred cars or more, which may pass through multiple rail yards for trains to be decoupled and reassembled. In contrast, trains carrying SNF are anticipated to be operated in consists of considerably fewer cars. Moreover, they could be operated in a dedicated fashion, thereby avoiding yard decoupling and reassembling activities in transiting from shipment origin to destination. This paper and presentation describes the methodology developed to estimate rail accident rates for future commercial SNF shipments and presents the corresponding results. The analysis utilizes the Federal Railroad Administration accident database, and takes into consideration accidents whose root causes are independent of the size of the consist, as well as those that are associated exclusively with yard activities. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2017

Material Investigation and Long-term Sealing Behavior of Helicoflex{sup R} Metal Seals used in Containers for Spent Nuclear Fuel - 17135

In Germany spent nuclear fuel is stored and transported in casks that possess bolted lid systems equipped with double jacket metal seals of Helicoflex{sup R} type in order to enable safe enclosure of the radioactive inventory. A dry interim storage period of 40 years was planned and the casks are licensed for that time span. However, due to political reasons and delayed disposal projects this time span is expected to increase significantly. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the long-term sealing behavior of the casks exceeding 40 years of operating time. In this paper, we discuss our approach to investigate the aging behavior of such metal seals, and to predict the long-term sealing behavior. Accelerated aging component tests with seals are performed at temperatures up to 150 deg. C to investigate the course of seal force, usable resilience and leakage rate. Even though these tests have already shown a significant decrease in seal force and usable resilience after aging times of less than 1 year, for most seals the leakage rate stayed better than the specified value. However, observation of the leakage rate has to be continued to determine the aging effect on the seal properties. As a main influence on the seal long-term behavior the increasing permanent deformation of the outer jacket has been recognized. It is made of aluminum or silver which means that the temperatures that are relevant for the aforementioned application in casks lead to creep deformation. For further investigation of seal behavior a comprehensive research program concerning the material characteristics and aging behavior of the individual seal components, with an emphasis on the outer jacket material, has been launched. The aim is to get a better understanding of the time and temperature dependent creep mechanisms and deformation. The examinations are separated into tests on seal segments and tests on standardized specimen. In order to be able to study the aging process, seal segments are compressed in flanges and stored at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 150 deg. C. After defined time intervals the segments are analyzed by using standardized tests including structure investigation and creep tests. The results are compared with the behavior of the specimen basic raw material. This is done to ensure comparability of the thin jacket material and additional sheet material used for standardized tests. Thus, the prediction of component changes after different aging times at different temperatures can be made. As a result forecasts on the long term seal behavior are intended. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2017

Update on Development of a U.S. Rail Transport Capability for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste - 17138

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) is laying the groundwork for implementing an integrated nuclear waste management system. This includes preparing for future large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) since transport will be a necessary component of an integrated waste management system. This paper provides an overview of the progress to date, and discussion of the path forward, for the current DOE-NE effort related to designing and fabricating prototype rail-cars for rail transport of SNF from commercial nuclear power reactor sites when a receiving site becomes operational. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2017

Further Development of an Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA) Capability and Tool for the Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) - 17146

An Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA) capability and tool are being developed to evaluate alternative execution strategies for the potential future deployment of a consolidated Interim Storage Facility as part of an integrated waste management system. Application of the ESA approach not only leverages but also goes beyond traditional project analysis tools. The ESA tool allows for ongoing performance assessment of the evolving project execution plans that take into account significant assumptions, risks, and uncertainties throughout the project lifecycle. Development and application of the ESA capability and tool continued in 2016, primarily focusing on enhancing its flexibility to model a range of scenarios regarding how an integrated system for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste could be deployed. (authors)

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