Transporting and Storing High-Level Nuclear Waste in the U.S.—Insights from a Mathematical Model
| Autor: | Sebastian Wegel, Victoria Czempinski, Pao-Yu Oei, Ben Wealer |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Applied Sciences, Vol 9, Iss 12, p 2437 (2019) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 2076-3417 94884870 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/app9122437 |
| Popis: | The nuclear industry in the United States of America has accumulated about 70,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste over the past decades; at present, this waste is temporarily stored close to the nuclear power plants. The industry and the Department of Energy are now facing two related challenges: (i) will a permanent geological repository, e.g., Yucca Mountain, become available in the future, and if yes, when?; (ii) should the high-level waste be transported to interim storage facilities in the meantime, which may be safer and more cost economic? This paper presents a mathematical transportation model that evaluates the economic challenges and costs associated with different scenarios regarding the opening of a long-term geological repository. The model results suggest that any further delay in opening a long-term storage increases cost and consolidated interim storage facilities should be built now. We show that Yucca Mountain’s capacity is insufficient and additional storage is necessary. A sensitivity analysis for the reprocessing of high-level waste finds this uneconomic in all cases. This paper thus emphasizes the urgency of dealing with the high-level nuclear waste and informs the debate between the nuclear industry and policymakers on the basis of objective data and quantitative analysis. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
|