Engineered materials characterization report for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. Volume 1, Introduction, history, and current candidates

The purpose of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project is to evaluate Yucca Mountain for its suitability as a potential site for the nation`s first high-level nuclear waste repository. As part of this effort, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been occupied for a number of years with developing and evaluating the performance of waste packages for the potential repository. In recent years this work has been carried out under the guidance of and in collaboration with the Management and Operating contractor for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management System, TRW Environmental Safety Systems, Inc., which in turn reports to the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management of the US Department of Energy. This report summarizes the history of the selection and characterization of materials to be used in the engineered barrier system for the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, describes the current candidate materials, presents a compilation of their properties, and summarizes available corrosion data and modeling. The term ``engineered materials`` is intended to distinguish those materials that are used as part of the engineered barrier system from the natural, geologic materials of the site