Need for and feasibility of monitored retrievable storage

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act directs the US Department of Energy to study the need for and feasibility of monitored retrievable storage and to develop a proposal for construction of such a facility. The need for MRS was measured in terms of the relative performance of a system with an MRS facility and a system without an MRS facility. Relative performance was measured in terms of the ease with which all system functions can be developed and implemented, the operating efficiency and reliability of the system, life-cycle cost effects and radiation dose effects. The decision to proceed with the MRS facility involves a tradeoff between improvements in developing and operating the waste management system and an increase in the total cost of the system. Feasibility of MRS was based upon the technical maturity of the design and the level of certainty in the schedule for design, construction and operational testing