Monte Carlo simulation-based reliability model for the PSA of a radioactive waste repository

Disposal facilities for radioactive wastes comprise a series of engineered barriers whose purpose is to contain the radionuclides until their radiation hazard has decreased to acceptable levels. In this regard, it is required that the long-term functionality of the system of barriers be evaluated by a quantitative risk analysis procedure, also called performance assessment. In this paper, a Monte Carlo simulation-based reliability model is propounded for the preliminary analysis of the safety performance of a radioactive waste repository, accounting also for barrier degradation processes. The model strengths are: simplicity, chich allows ease of computation, and flexibility, which allows modification to account for various physical aspects and inter-comparison of their effects. An application to a case study of literature is presented to validate the approach and demonstrate its flexibility.