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Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

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6.182<br />

development <strong>of</strong> methods for prediction and measurement <strong>of</strong> waste location and configuration.<br />

The lack <strong>of</strong> predictive methods for the ice sheet concept appears sufficiently intractable<br />

at this time to preclude consideration <strong>of</strong> this concept.<br />

6.2.3.7 Implementation <strong>of</strong> a Concept Should Not Be Dependent Upon the Size <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Nuclear Industry<br />

The rock melt, transmutation and space options appear to be potentially sensitive to<br />

the size <strong>of</strong> the nuclear industry. The reference rock melting concept would require suffi-<br />

cient waste product to operate at least one cavity ( 40,000 MTHM equivalent waste) and suc-<br />

ceeding increments would be equally as large. The minimum size <strong>of</strong> a rock melt cavity has<br />

not been determined, however, and it is possible that smaller increments would be feasible.<br />

Transmutation would require operating reactors for the transmutation step and a sufficiently<br />

large industry to justify the investment in specialized support facilities. Space disposal,<br />

as well, would require a sizable investment in specialized hardware, needing a substantial<br />

nuclear industry to justify this investment. This, however, is an economic question and<br />

does not intrinsically disqualify space disposal from consideration.<br />

6.2.3.8 Concepts Should Be Independent <strong>of</strong> Fuel Cycle Issues<br />

Fuel cycles treated in this document include the once-through cycle and full uranium-<br />

plutonium recycle; however other cycles are possible. Although the uranium-only fuel cycle<br />

was discussed in the draft <strong>of</strong> this Statement, review comments indicate that this cycle is<br />

not considered reasonable by the industry or the scientific community and therefore this<br />

cycle is not considered further. Additional fuel cycle issues relate to timing <strong>of</strong> fuel<br />

cycle implementation and defense wastes.<br />

Once-Through and Reprocessing Fuel Cycles<br />

As summarized in Table 6.2.1, the mined repository and island mined repository concepts<br />

would be capable <strong>of</strong> accommodating all waste products <strong>of</strong> both the once-through and reprocess-<br />

ing fuel cycles. Various considerations suggest the use <strong>of</strong> mined repositories for bulky<br />

equipment and for the considerable volume <strong>of</strong> TRU wastes, hulls, and hardware generated by<br />

the reprocessing fuel cycle for disposal concepts that cannot accommodate these wastes.<br />

The rock melt and well injection options could find application with either the once-<br />

through or the reprocessing fuel cycles. Fuel processing would be required for the once-<br />

through cycle.<br />

The space disposal concept, as well, could find application to either fuel cycle,<br />

however, partitioning <strong>of</strong> the waste as well as processing <strong>of</strong> spent fuel would be required if<br />

the once-through fuel cycle were used.<br />

Transmutation would find its most promising application with the reprocessing fuel<br />

cycle. Processing and partitioning <strong>of</strong> spent fuel and recycle in a reactor would be required<br />

and alternative disposal technology would be needed for disposal <strong>of</strong> other transmutation<br />

waste products, high-level liquid fission product waste and fuel hulls and hardware.

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