Artikel
Transporting and Storing High-Level Nuclear Waste in the U.S.—Insights from a Mathematical Model
The nuclear industry in the United States of America has accumulated about 70,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste over the past decades; at present, this waste is temporarily stored close to the nuclear power plants. The industry and the Department of Energy are now facing two related challenges: (i) will a permanent geological repository, e.g., Yucca Mountain, become available in the future, and if yes, when?; (ii) should the high-level waste be transported to interim storage facilities in the meantime, which may be safer and more cost economic? This paper presents a mathematical transportation model that evaluates the economic challenges and costs associated with different scenarios regarding the opening of a long-term geological repository. The model results suggest that any further delay in opening a long-term storage increases cost and consolidated interim storage facilities should be built now. We show that Yucca Mountain’s capacity is insufficient and additional storage is necessary. A sensitivity analysis for the reprocessing of high-level waste finds this uneconomic in all cases. This paper thus emphasizes the urgency of dealing with the high-level nuclear waste and informs the debate between the nuclear industry and policymakers on the basis of objective data and quantitative analysis.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Journal: Applied Sciences ; ISSN: 2076-3417 ; Volume: 9 ; Year: 2019 ; Issue: 12 ; Pages: 1-23 ; Basel: MDPI AG
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
- Subject
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Nuclear waste disposal policy
Transportation modeling
Interim storage
United States of America
Nuclear energy
Nuclear policy
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Wegel, Sebastian
Czempinski, Victoria
Oei, Pao-Yu
Wealer, Ben
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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MDPI AG
- (where)
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Basel
- (when)
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2019
- DOI
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doi:10.3390/app9122437
- Handle
- Last update
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10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Artikel
Associated
- Wegel, Sebastian
- Czempinski, Victoria
- Oei, Pao-Yu
- Wealer, Ben
- MDPI AG
Time of origin
- 2019
Other Objects (12)
