The Analytical Repository Source-Term (AREST) model: Analysis of spent fuel as a nuclear waste form

The purpose of this report is to assess the performance of spent fuel as a final waste form. The release of radionuclides from spent nuclear fuel has been simulated for the three repository sites that were nominated for site characterization in accordance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The simulation is based on waste package designs that were presented in the environmental assessments prepared for each site. Five distinct distributions for containment failure have been considered, and the release for nuclides from the UO/sub 2/ matrix, gap (including grain boundary), crud/surface layer, and cladding has been calculated with the Analytic Repository Source-Term (AREST) code. Separate scenarios involving incongruent and congruent release from the UO/sub 2/ matrix have also been examined using the AREST code. Congruent release is defined here as the condition in which the relative mass release rates of a given nuclide and uranium from the UO/sub 2/ matrix are equal to their mass ratios in the matrix. Incongruent release refers to release of a given nuclide from the UO/sub 2/ matrix controlled by its own solubility-limiting solid phase. Release of nuclides from other sources within the spent fuel (e.g., cladding, fuel/cladding gap) is evaluated separately from either incongruent or congruent matrix release. 51 refs., 200 figs., 9 tabs.