Determination of Cost Effective Waste Management System Receipt Rates

McKee, R. W.; Huber, H. D.; ,

Determination of Cost Effective Waste Management System Receipt Rates

by R. W. McKee, Pacific Northwest Lab, Richland, United States,
H. D. Huber, Pacific Northwest Lab, Richland, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Level Radioactive Waste Management 1991

Abstract:

A comprehensive logistics and cost analysis has been carried out to determine if there are potential benefits to the high-level waste management system for receipt rates other than the current 3,000 MTU/yr design-basis receipt rate. The scope of the analysis includes both a Repository-Only System and a Storage-Only or Basic MRS System. To allow for current uncertainties in facility startup scheduling, cases considering repository startup dates of 2010 and 2015 and MRS startup dates of 1998 and three years prior to the repository have been evaluated. Receipt rates ranging from 1,500 to 6,000 MTU/yr have been considered for both the MRS and the repository. Higher receipt rates appear to be economically justified for both the repository and an MRS. For a repository-only system, minimum costs are found at a repository receipt rate of 6,000 MTU/yr. When a storage-only MRS is included in the system, minimum system costs are also achieved at a repository receipt rate of 6,000 MTU/yr. However, the MRS receipt rate for minimum system costs depends on the MRS startup date and ranges from 3,500 to 6,000 MTU/yr. With a 1998 MRS and a 2010 repository, the added cost of providing the MRS is offset by at-reactor storage cost reductions and the total system cost of $10.0 billion is virtually the same as for the repository-only system.

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