Initial evaluation of standardized canisters in the waste management system

Development and deployment of a standardized canister system represents an opportunity to develop an integrated approach to address storage, transportation, and disposal issues in the waste management system. However, this deployment has the potential for significant system-wide impacts regardless of timing and method of deployment. This evaluation compares continued loading of dual-purpose canisters (i.e., status quo) with loading of standardized canister systems in the near-term, before repository requirements are known and/or before operating reactors shut down. This evaluation quantitatively compares order of magnitude costs and logistics for different standardization scenarios with status quo scenarios, provides insight into quantifiable impacts of loading standardized canister systems in the near term, tests system-level analysis tools and associated input, and identifies scenarios for further analysis. Data used for at-reactor and repackaging operations must be updated to provide more realism at the system level. Based on the assumption that the cost to load any canister regardless of capacity was the same, loading the smallest (four pressurized water reactor [PWR] assemblies) canisters at reactors was the most expensive, most challenging option. Total system costs of loading either the medium (twelve PWR assemblies) or the large (twenty-one PWR assemblies) standardized canister systems before the waste-package capacity is determined are similar to the continued loading of current DPCs, though where those costs occur does change.