Initial Process and Expected Outcomes for Preliminary Identification of Routes to Yucca Mountain, Nevada

摘要

The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is responsible for developing and implementing a safe, secure and efficient transportation system to ship spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from commercial and DOE sites to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The Office of Logistics Management (OLM) within OCRWM has begun to work with stakeholders to identify preliminary national suites of highway and rail routes that could be used for future shipments OLM is striving to develop a planning-basis set of routes that will support long-lead time logistical analyses (i.e., five or more years before shipment). The results will represent a starting point for discussions between DOE and corridor jurisdictions, and for shipping arrangements between DOE and carriers. This fulfills a recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences report on SNF and HLW transportation that "DOE should identify and make public its suite of preferred highway and rail routes for transporting spent fuel and high level waste to a federal repository as soon as practicable to support State, Tribal and local planning, especially for emergency responder preparedness."OLM encourages and supports participation of program stakeholders in a process to identify suites of national routes. The principal objective is to identify preliminary suites of national routes that reflect responsible consideration of the interests of a broad cross-section of stakeholders. This will facilitate transportation planning activities to help meet program goals, including providing an advanced planning framework for State and Tribal authorities; supporting a pilot program for providing funding under Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act; allowing sufficient time for security and operational reviews in advance of shipments to Yucca Mountain; and supporting utility planning and readiness for transportation operations. Concepts for routing and routing criteria have been considered by several state regional groups supported by cooperative agreements with OLM. OCRWM is also working with other Federal agencies, transportation service providers and others involved in the transportation industry to ensure the criteria are consistent with operating practices and regulations. These coordination efforts will ensure the experience, knowledge, and expertise of those involved are considered in the process to identify the preliminary national suites of routes. This paper describes the current process and timeline for preliminary identification and analyses of routes.