Abstract
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management announced their intention to have the commercial utilities package spent nuclear fuel in shielded, transportable, ageable, and disposable containers prior to shipment to the Yucca Mountain repository. This will change the conditions used as a basis for the design of the waste package closure system. The environment is now expected to be a low radiation, low contamination area. A value engineering study was completed to evaluate possible modifications to the existing closure system using the revised requirements. Four alternatives were identified and evaluated against a set of weighted criteria. The alternatives are (1) a radiation-hardened, remote automated system (the current baseline design); (2) a nonradiation-hardened, remote automated system (with personnel intervention if necessary); (3) a nonradiation-hardened, semi-automated system with personnel access for routine manual operations; and (4) a nonradiation-hardened, fully manual system with full-time personnel access. Based on the study, the recommended design is Alternative 2, a nonradiation-hardened, remote automated system. It is less expensive and less complex than the current baseline system, because nonradiation-hardened equipment can be used and some contamination control equipment is no longer needed. In addition, the inclusion of remote automation ensures throughput requirements are met, provides a moremore » reliable process, and provides greater protection for employees from industrial accidents and radiation exposure than the semi-automated or manual systems. Other items addressed during the value engineering study as requested by OCRWM include a comparison to industry canister closure systems and corresponding lessons learned; consideration of closing a transportable, ageable, and disposable canister; and an estimate of the time required to perform a demonstration of the recommended closure system.« less
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