Principles and Operational Strategies for Staged Repository Systems Progress Report (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Attachment A: Progress Report
Attachment A: Progress Report
Pages 5-17
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. 3 In this attachment, the term "geologic repository" stands for geologic repository for highlevel waste, which includes high-level radioactive waste from reprocessing nuclear fuels, spent nuclear fuel, if it is considered to be a waste, and other nuclear materials designated for disposal along with reprocessing waste and spent nuclear fuel.
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1.1 Provisional Conceptual Framework of Adaptive Staging Current mainstream thinking on radioactive waste management in the international arena suggests the adoption of a staged approach for development of geologic repositories. A key precursor and foundation for adaptive staging is the "stepwise" approach proposed by a variety of international bodies.
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In summary, it is increasingly acknowledged by most national radioactive waste management programs that some form of staged process is useful or even necessary for developing a geologic repository. The committee supports this view and has gone further towards defining the characteristics of a staged program that could have higher chances of leading to success in a complex long-term project.
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1~3 Essential Attributes of Adaptive Staging The overarching attribute of adaptive staging is that it aims to increase repository safety and to reduce repository performance uncertainties through systematic incremental learning. The safely case is at the heart of adaptive staging and drives the ~ Reversibility denotes the possibility of reversing one or a series of steps in repository development at any stage of the program.
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Because repository programs span several generations, special efforts are needed to ensure that 42 In the committee's view, such changes do not include stopping the program without proposing viable alternatives to manage the radioactive waste.
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In the radioactive waste repository context, the scope of the pilot stage is to test conceptual models and the implementer's capability to safely manage waste and conduct repository operations, including waste retrievability. While direct evidence of long-term performance will not be achieved by a short-term pilot stage, a we~l-formulated monitoring and research and development program can provide data that will enhance (or diminish)
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The implementer, together with this technical oversight board, compare assumptions with the information collected, identify significant divergences, propose remedies, and obtain data to improve repository design or operations. At the end of the pilot stage, the implementer conducts an analysis updating the repository safety concept for the full safety case.
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POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF ADAPTIVE STAGING As shown in section 1.1, staged development is increasingly recognized in the radioactive waste management arena as beneficial in the implementation of fong-term waste disposition strategies. However, adaptive staging, a refined interpretation of staged development, is a new concept that also presents some potential drawbacks.
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have also commented on the societal benefits of implementation approaches similar to adaptive staging. Public involvement in siting geologic repositories has been effective in Finland and Sweden, as briefly illustrated in Attachment B.~3 2.2 Potential Drawbacks of Adaptive Staging The committee also has identified potential programmatic, technical, regulatory, institutional, and societal drawbacks of adaptive staging: · Programmatic: Adaptive staging calls for financial investments without a "guarantee" that any of the potential future stages in the process wit!
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Although this is a staged development approach, this "modular repository design" is proposed to overcome annual budget restrictions, schedule, and regulatory uncertainties rather than to increase opportunities for learning, which would be the prime justification for implementing adaptive staging. The following is quoted from a letter that DOE wrote to a contractor providing the rationale for conducting a study on the modular repository design: "It has become apparent that a staged repository development approach that includes modular repository design and construction ...
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The committee is currently investigating the benefits and drawbacks of adaptive staging as they impact the programmatic, technical, institutional, regulatory, and societal objectives of a geologic repository. In many of the radioactive waste management programs that have adopted a linear, prescribed, multi-step approach to develop geologic repositories for high-eve waste there have been delays or failures, as clescribed in a previous National Research Council report (NRC, 2001a; page 10~.
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2002a. Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Leve} Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada.
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Proceedings of the 28th Waste Management Symposium. February 24-2S, 2002.
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