Filling the Gaps: The Critical Role of Underground Research Laboratories in the U.S. Department of Energy Geologic Disposal Research and Development Program (January 2020)
The report is a product of the Board’s review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) underground research laboratory (URL)-related research and development activities and their relationship to a spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste disposal program. The Board report presents and evaluates the DOE’s research on complex coupled processes and addresses the use of URL R&D results for developing safety cases and knowledge gap analyses. The report describes the critical role of URLs in technology development and demonstration, training, and public confidence building.