Monitored retrievable storage facility

A monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS) is being developed as an integral part of the high-level radioactive waste management system. Using proven technologies, the MRS will accept shipments of spent fuel from utilities and temporarily store the spent fuel under closely monitored conditions. The goal is to begin spent fuel acceptance at an MRS in 1998. When a geologic repository opens, currently scheduled for 2010, the spent fuel stored at the MRS will be shipped to the repository for permanent disposal, and additional spent fuel from reactors will be whipped through the MRWs to the repository. By allowing an orderly transfer of spent fuel to the federal system, independent of the ability to emplace spent fuel in the repository, the MRS will increase the flexibility and reliability of the total system. And by providing both buffer storage and a central staging area for waste shipments to the repository, the MRS may increase the efficiency of waste transportation through the use of large shipments by dedicated train, thus reducing the number of shipments. As an integral part of the waste management system, the MRS is an important step in moving spent fuel from reactors to permanent disposal and will reduce themore » need for additional at-reactor storage.« less