Analyses of disposal efficiency based on nuclear spent fuel cooling time and disposal tunnel/pit spacing for the design of a geological repository

The purpose of deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) including nuclear spent fuels is to isolate and to inhibit the release of radioactive material for a long time so that its toxicity does not affect the biosphere. The main requirement for the HLW repository design is to keep the buffer temperature below 100 °C in order to maintain the integrity of the engineered barrier system. The cooling time of the spent fuels discharged from nuclear power plants is the key consideration factor for the efficiency and economic feasibility of such a repository. We analyze the spacing of the disposal tunnels and pits, the disposal area and the uranium density for the deep geological repository layout to satisfy the thermal requirement of the disposal system. To do this, thermal stability analyses of a disposal system have been performed using varying spent fuel cooling times and spacing of the disposal tunnels and pits. The results show that the time to reach the maximum temperature within the design limit of the temperature in the disposal site is likely to be shortened as the cooling time of the spent fuel becomes shorter. Also it seems that controlling the disposal pit spacing is considered more advantageous than controlling the disposal tunnel spacing to meet the allowable thermal criteria in the repository from thermal and economical points of view. The results of these analyses can be used for a deep geological repository design and detailed analyses with exact site characteristics data will reduce the uncertainty of the results.