Performance-assessment support for the design of the Yucca Mountain exploratory-shaft facility

The Yucca Mountain Project, part of the waste-management program of the U.S. Department of Energy, is using performance assessment in support of the design of an exploratory-shaft facility (ESF). A summary of this support offers (1) a view of performance assessment in actual practice and (2) a preview of the methods that may be useful in future support for the development of a complete repository. The support for the ESF design began with a thorough review of the requirements that the properly designed facility must meet. This review produced a list of eleven performance-assessment analyses needed for supporting the design. These analyses will support the design by providing specific numerical constraints on the design and by evaluating proposed designs to determine whether they comply with the requirements. The analyses are exercising not only the computational capabilities of the performance-assessment effort but also many of the complex interfaces and procedures required for developing a repository. The insights gained from this effort will be valuable in future support of a full repository. 2 refs