Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:23:07.531Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Integration of Postclosure Safety Analysis with Repository Design for the Yucca Mountain Repository through the Selection of Design Control Parameters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Gerald Hans Nieder-Westermann
Affiliation:
[email protected][email protected], Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Robert H. Spencer
Affiliation:
[email protected], Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Robert W Andrews
Affiliation:
[email protected], United States
Neil Brown
Affiliation:
[email protected], Los Alamos National Laboratory, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Get access

Abstract

The Yucca Mountain repository combines multiple barriers, both natural and engineered, which work both individually and collectively to limit the movement of water and the potential release and movement of radionuclides to the accessible environment. Engineered structures, systems and components (SSCs) are designed to function in the natural environment utilizing materials chosen to perform their intended functions in order to meet the postclosure performance objectives. Similarly, the features of the natural environment are expected to respond to the presence of the repository through geomechanical, hydrogeologic and geochemical changes. At Yucca Mountain, specific features, both engineered and natural have been identified as requiring design control during repository construction and operations. The integration between design and postclosure safety analysis is facilitated using design control parameters. The term “design control parameters” includes functions and performance requirements allocated to SSCs through the design process, as well as the attributes of SSCs that are developed during design (e.g., dimensions; weights; materials; fabrication and quality-control processes; and operating conditions). These control parameters provide an interface between the design and the analyzed postclosure safety bases, which needs to be maintained through the licensing process. Maintenance of the design is controlled through configuration management and procedural safety controls. The design control parameters serve three key purposes. First, they identify key aspects of the design that serve as the design bases for the designers of the SSCs of the facility. Second, they provide a useful input to the analyses of relevant postclosure features, events and processes (FEPs) and are used to either exclude FEPs from the postclosure safety analysis or as an input to models of included FEPs in the safety analysis. Finally, they provide important controlled interface constraints between the design and safety analyses organizations that are amenable to configuration management. Several examples of such design controls will be presented in this briefing. The first type of design controls relates to the location of the underground facility, including standoffs from faults and the ground surface. The second type of design controls relates to the configuration of the engineered features including the spacing of emplacement driftsand drip shield dimensions and characteristics. A third type of design controls relates to constraints on handling, loading and emplacing waste forms in canisters and waste packages in the emplacement drifts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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

REFERENCES

1. DOE (U.S. Department of Energy) 2008. Yucca Mountain Repository License Application.DOE/RW-0573, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.Google Scholar
2. BSC (Bechtel SAIC Company) 2008. Preclosure Nuclear Safety Design Bases. 000–30R-MGR0–03500–000–000. Las Vegas, Nevada: Bechtel SAIC Company.Google Scholar
3. SNL (Sandia National Laboratories) 2008. Postclosure Nuclear Safety Design Bases. ANL-WIS-MD-000024 REV 01. Las Vegas, Nevada: Sandia National Laboratories.Google Scholar
4. SNL 2008. Features, Events, and Processes for the Total System Performance Assessment: Analyses.ANL-WIS-MD-000027 REV 00. Las Vegas, Nevada: Sandia National Laboratories.Google Scholar
5. BSC 2008. Postclosure Modeling and Analyses Design Parameters.TDR-MGR-MD-000037 REV 02. Las Vegas, Nevada: Bechtel SAIC Company.Google Scholar