[en] The US Department of Energy (DOE) supports the development of a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility as an integral part of the national high-level radioactive waste management system. The MRS facility will receive spent fuel from the utilities, store the fuel if necessary, and ship the fuel to the repository, as their schedules require. By receiving, storing and scheduling shipment of spent fuel at an MRS facility, the DOE has concluded that the overall waste system will benefit from enhanced systems development and system performance. Specifically, the DOE could better meet its objectives of timely disposal, timely waste acceptance, schedule confidence and system flexibility