Journal
RELIABILITY ENGINEERING & SYSTEM SAFETY
Volume 122, Issue -, Pages 74-95Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2013.06.014
Keywords
Scenario development; High-level radioactive waste; Spent nuclear fuel; Radioactive waste disposal; Performance assessment; Yucca Mountain
Funding
- DOE National Nuclear Security Administration [DE-AC04-94AL85000]
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This paper summarizes various hazards identified between 1978 when Yucca Mountain, located in arid southern Nevada, was first proposed as a potential site and 2008 when the license application to construct a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste was submitted. Although advantages of an arid site are many, hazard identification and scenario development have generally recognized fractures in the tuff as important features; climate change, water infiltration and percolation, and an oxidizing environment as important processes; and igneous activity, seismicity, human intrusion, and criticality as important disruptive events to consider at Yucca Mountain. Some of the scientific and technical challenges encountered included a change in the repository design from in-floor emplacement with small packages to in-drift emplacement with large packages without backfill. This change, in turn, increased the importance of igneous and seismic hazards. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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