Conceptual Design of a Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility

In order to achieve timely acceptance of spent nuclear fuel into the federal radioactive waste management system and to limit the amount of additional at-reactor storage capacity that would otherwise need to be added after 1998, the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management intends to construct and operate a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility. The MRS will perform relatively simple functions and will, to the extent practicable, employ existing technologies and storage modes already approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Existing technologies have been identified and incorporated into six conceptual designs. One of the designs, the dry vertical concrete cask, has been designated as the reference design. The conceptual designs have been developed with regard to safety, technical feasibility, technical performance levels, cost, and schedule considerations. A conceptual design report has been prepared to document acceptable conceptual designs and the findings of the technical evaluations.