Effects of non-uniform loading of spent fuels on the capacity of Yucca Mountain repository

摘要

Given the difficulty in siting a second high level nuclear waste repository, expanding the capacity of Yucca Mountain high level waste repository is highly desirable to the nuclear industry. As the capacity of the repository is limited by the decay heat inventory of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in relation to the thermal design limits, expanding the capacity requires appropriate schemes for decay heat and spent fuel loading management. Studies performed to date investigating the capacity of Yucca Mountain often assumed that the loading of SNF is uniform throughout the repository using the concept of a linear loading or areal power density. There remains, however, a question regarding the efficacy of using non-uniform SNF loading with respect to capacity expansion. This study examines the effects of non-uniform SNF loading on the capacity of the mountain by assuming several alternative SNF loading scenarios.