[en] This report compares repository life-cycle costs and assesses operational trade-offs for waste management scenarios with and without spent fuel rod consolidation. The study is specific to a geologic repository being considered for location in the tuff formations at Yucca Mountain, on and near the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada. Four cases are considered. In Cases 1 and 2, intact spent fuel is received directly from the nuclear utilities; and in Cases 3 and 4, most of the fuel is received from a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility. Case 1 features at-repository consolidation, whereas in Case 2 the fuel is packaged and emplaced as intact fuel assemblies. Case 3 assumes at-MRS consolidation, and Case 4 assumes no consolidation either at the MRS or at the repository. The total life-cycle cost for the Case 1 (reference) repository is about $6.6 billion (in 1986 dollars). In Case 2, ''intact'' disposal saves $0.5 billion and offers a number of operational advantages. The presence of an MRS in the waste management system reduces repository costs, with or without at-MRS consolidation. Life-cycle costs for Cases 3 and 4 are, respectively, $1.2 billion and $1.0 billion less than the Case 1 cost; thus, consolidation at the MRS reduces the repository cost by $0.2 billion. Operationally, the MRS is advantageous in that it eliminates--or, rather, transfers to the MRS--the most difficult and complex operations in the preparation of spent fuel for disposal. 9 refs., 27 figs., 15 tabs