Variation of heat loading for a repository at Yucca Mountain

This report presents the results of numerical analyses to determine the range in container pitch (i.e., the spacing between vertically emplaced containers), disposal room extraction ratio, and waste stand-off distance that will satisfy design criteria expressed for a repository at Yucca Mountain. Effects are investigated for a range in thermal properties of the rock represented by the ``saturated`` and ``dry`` conditions expressed in Chapter 2 of the SCPCDR. A number of heat transfer analyses were performed for a time period of 50 years after initial waste emplacement. Within this period, temperatures have peaked in the vicinity of the waste containers. The analyses included three-dimensional heat transfer models that account for the explicit interaction of single waste containers emplaced in a repository panel. Vertical and horizontal waste emplacement concepts of commingled SF and DHLW were investigated. The analyses indicate that the configuration of container boreholes and extraction ratio, as well as the stand-off distance to waste proposed in the SCPCDR, Chapter 4, could result in the development of temperatures that exceed design goals currently expressed in the SCP and the SCPCDR. 8 refs., 25 figs., 3 tabs.