Evaluation of rail access routes to Yucca Mountain

This paper provides a preliminary evaluation and characterization of potential rail routes for the transport of high level radioactive waste from their current storage locations (76 power plants and 4 federal facilities) to the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Individual routes were determined for shipments from each origin using the INTERLINE model. They were characterized in terms of shipment distance, number of transfers and states transversed. Additionally, specific routing constraints were imposed for a selected subset of the origins to address policy and operational alternatives such as minimizing shipment distance, number of transfers or number of states traversed. Results of the analysis indicate that the imposition of the routing constraint count result in reducing shipment distances, and the number of states traversed. But a tradeoff between these factors and the number of transfers exists

Analysis of Potential Highway Routes to Yucca Mountain

States have been provided the authority to designate routes for the transport of highway route controlled quantity shipments of radioactive materials. The state of Nevada is currently evaluating alternative routes for such designation. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of potential system impacts of Nevada\u27s highway route designation for the shipment of High Level Radioactive Waste (HLRW) to the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. A potential route being evaluated by Nevada was used to specify routing constraints for highway shipments to Yucca Mountain. Individual routes were determined for shipments from each origin using the HIGHWAY model for unconstrained and constrained routing scenarios. Results of the analysis indicate that the imposition of the routing constraint would result in increased travel times and shipment distances. These increases range from about 1.25 percent to about 80 percent. However, the magnitude of such increases is highly dependent on the geographic location of the origin