Transportation, interim storage, and disposal alternative for vitrified high-level waste

This paper reports that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) presently has two ongoing programs to develop casks to transport high-level waste (HLW) canisters by truck to the eventual national repository. One of these is the Defense High-Level Waste (DHLW) cask, constructed of depleted uranium and stainless steel, and the other is the ductile iron, Vitrified High-Level Waste (VHLW) cask. The designs for both casks are completed, but they are facing significant licensing obstacles that must be overcome before either can be produced. However, this may be a good opportunity to reassess the system-wide concept of storage, transport, and disposal of HLW. An integrated packaging concept encompassing all three functions appears to be an attractive alternative to separate packages for each. The DOE program on the VHLW cask has demonstrated the advantages of ductile iron (DI) as a suitable material for this proposed multifunction cask