Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T21:52:12.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Risk-Based Evaluation of Long-Term Safety for a Yucca Mountain Repository Using the IMARC TSPA Code

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

John Kessler
Affiliation:
Electric Power Research Institute, 3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto CA 94304, U.S.A, JKESSLER@epri.com.
Michael Apted
Affiliation:
Monitor Scientific LLC, 3900 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Denver CO 80235, U.S.A, mapted@monitorsci.com.
Matthew Kozak
Affiliation:
Monitor Scientific LLC, 3900 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Denver CO 80235, U.S.A, mapted@monitorsci.com.
Wei Zhou
Affiliation:
Monitor Scientific LLC, 3900 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Denver CO 80235, U.S.A, mapted@monitorsci.com.
Get access

Abstract

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has conducted independent total system performance assessments (TSPAs) of the proposed Yucca Mountain spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste repository for 15 years. EPRI uses its TSPA code, IMARC, currently in its eighth version. The major results of the IMARC-8 analyses are presented in this paper. In all of the situations evaluated by EPRI using IMARC-8, the results for the reference repository concept for Yucca Mountain are well within the regulatory criteria established in the applicable regulations, 10 CFR 63 and 40 CFR 197. Further analyses indicate that at least two of the repository barriers must fail to function as anticipated for dose risks to rise as much as one millirem per year (1/15th of the regulatory limit).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] CRWMS M&O, 2001, “Supplemental Science and Performance Analyses, Vols. 1 and 2”, TDR-MGR-PA-000001 and –000007, North Las Vegas, Nevada: US Department of Energy Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office.Google Scholar
[2] EPRI, 1990, “Demonstration of a Risk-based Approach to High-level Waste Repository Evaluation”, EPRI NP-7057, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, October 1990.Google Scholar
[3] EPRI, 2002, “Integrated Yucca Mountain Safety Case and Supporting Analysis: Phase 7” EPRI 1003334, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, December 2002.Google Scholar
[4] US Environmental Protection Agency, 2001, “40 CFR Part 197 Public Health and Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, NV”, Federal Register, 66 (114), 3207432135, June 13, 2001.Google Scholar
[5] US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2001, “10 CFR Part 63 Disposal of High-level Radioactive Wastes in a Proposed Repository at Yucca Mountain, NV”, Federal Register, 66 (213), 5573255816, November 2, 2001.Google Scholar
[6] National Academy of Sciences, 1995, “Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards”, Committee on Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar