Underground nuclear waste containments

In the United States, about a hundred million gallons of high-level nuclear waste are stored in underground containments. Basically, these containments are of two different designs: single-shell and double-shell structures. The single-shell structures consist of reinforced concrete cylindrical walls seated on circular mats and enclosed on top with torispherical domes or circular flat roofs. The walls and the basemats are lined with carbon steel. The double-shell structures provide another layer of protection and constitute a completely enclosed steel containment within the single-shell structure leaving an annular space between the two walls. Single-shell containments are of earlier vintage and were built in the period 1945-1965. Double-shell structures were built through the 1960s and 1970s. Experience gained in building and operating the single-shell containments was used in enhancing the design and construction of the double-shell structures. Currently, there are about 250 underground single-shell and double-shell structures containing the high-level waste with an inventory of about 800 million curies. During their service lives, especially in early stages, these structures were subjected to thermal excursions of varying extents; also, they have aged in the chemical environment. Furthermore, in their remaining service lives, the structures may be subjected to loads for which they were not designed, such as larger earthquakes or chemical explosions. As a result, the demonstration of safety of these underground nuclear containments poses a challenge to structural engineers, which increases with time. Regardless of current plans for gradual retrieval of the waste and subsequent solidification for disposal, many of these structures are expected to continue to contain the waste through the next 20-40 years. In order to verify their structural capabilities in fulfilling this mission, several studies were recently performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory