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

7.22
startup. This is because of the declining schedule of fuel discharges (see Figure 3.2.3)
and the accelerated repository receiving rate used to eliminate the storage backlog (see
Figure 7.3.4). For Cases 4 and 5 under the proposed program, the repository starts the same
year as reprocessing and there are no interim storage requirements. However, under the
alternative program the storage requirements are substantial for these cases.
7.3.3 Transportation Requirements
Transportation requirements are identified here in terms of the number of shipments
required. A shipment is defined as one truck cask or one rail or intermodal cask shipment
in the case of spent fuel or one truck load or one rail car in the case of reprocessing
wastes.
Transportation requirements for the once-through cycle are shown in Table 7.3.5. Truck
shipments are the same under the proposed program or the alternative program. This is
because it does not matter whether the fuel shipped from the reactor by truck goes to
interim storage or the repository. It is only shipped once by truck as shipments from
interim storage are assumed to be entirely by rail. Rail shipments can be higher under the
alternative program because storage requirements are higher and any fuel shipped to interim
storage must be shipped twice--once from the reactor to interim storage and once from
interim storage to the repository. Fewer shipments are required under the no-action alter-
native because some of the fuel remains in the reactor basins and is not shipped at all.
Additional details are shown in Appendix A, Table A.7.1.
Transportation requirements for the reprocessing cycle are shown in Table 7.3.6.
Transportation requirements range somewhat higher under the alternative program than under
the proposed program because more shipments are required to interim storage as a result of
TABLE 7.3.5. Comparison of Transportation Requirements for the Program Alternative Using
the Once-Through Fuel Cycle
Number of Spent Fuel Shipments
Proposed Program Alternative Program
Nuclear Power Growth Transport (Geologic Disposal (Disposal Starting No Action
Case Assumption Mode Starting 1990 - 2010) 2010 - 2030) Alternative
1 Present Inventory Rail 2,300 2,300 0
Only Truck 2,300 2,300 0
2 Present Capacity Rail 13,300 to 18,000 18,000 to 19,000 8,400
Normal Life Truck 11,000 11,000 8,600
3 250 GWe by Year Rail 61,000 to 89,000 89,000 to 96,000 45,000
2000 and Steady Truck 56,000 56,000 46,000
State
4 250 GWe System by Rail 97,000 127,000 NA(a)
Year 2000 and Truck 73,000 73,000 NA
Steady State
5 500 GWe by Year Rail 126,000 170,000 NA
2040 Truck 99,000 99,000 NA
(a) NA = not applicable.