The Reactor and Fuel Cycle Technology Subcommittee was formed to respond to the charge—set forth in the charter of the Blue Ribbon Commission—to evaluate existing fuel cycle technologies and R&D programs in terms of multiple criteria.

To establish a new organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consensual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing nuclear waste, and for other purposes.

After more than 20 years of commercial nuclear power, the Federal Government has yet to develop a broadly supported policy for fulfilling its legal responsibility for the final isolation of high-level radioactive waste. OTA's study concludes that until such a policy is adopted in law, there is a substantial risk that the false starts, shifts of policy, and fluctuating support that have plagued the final isolation program in the past will continue.

In the November 1989 Report to Congress on Reassessment of the Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management Program (DOE/RW-0247), the Secretary of Energy
announced an initiative for developing a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility
that is to start spent-fuel acceptance in 1998. This facility, which will be licensed by
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), will receive spent fuel from
commercial nuclear power plants and provide a limited amount of storage for this

The success of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program of the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) is critical to U.S. ability to manage and dispose of
nuclear waste safely--and to the reestablishment of confidence in the nuclear energy
option in the United States. The program must conform with all applicable standards
and, in fact, set the example for a national policy on the safe disposal of radioactive
waste.
The Secretary of Energy has recently completed an extensive review of the

Dear Mr. President:
At your direction, the Secretary of Energy established the Blue Ribbon Commission on
America’s Nuclear Future to review policies for managing the back end of the nuclear
fuel cycle and recommend a new strategy. We are pleased to be serving as Co‐
Chairmen of the Commission, and we are writing to you to highlight an important action
we strongly believe should be reflected in your Fiscal Year 2013 baseline budget
projections.
In our draft report to the Secretary, issued in July of this year, the Commission

This report presents the results of computer code benchmark simulations against spent fuel radiochemical assay
measurements from the Kansai Electric Ltd. Takahama-3 reactor published by the Japan Atomic Energy
Research Institute. Takahama-3 is a pressurized-water reactor that operates with a 17 × 17 fuel-assembly design.
Spent fuel samples were obtained from assemblies operated for 2 and 3 cycles and achieved a maximum burnup
of 47 GWd/MTU. Radiochemical analyses were performed on two rods having an initial enrichment of

The Disposal Subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) addressed a wide-ranging set of issues, all bearing directly on the central question: “How can the United States go about establishing one or more disposal sites for high-level nuclear wastes in a manner and within a timeframe that is technically, socially, economically, and politically acceptable?”

The search for sites for radioactive waste management (RWM) facilities attracts attention from implementers, government bodies, local communities, and the public at large. Facility siting processes, in general, tend to be marred by conflicts, disagreements, and delays.

Spent Fuel Project Office, Interim Staff Guidance - 8, Revision 1

The report describes the final results of the Phase IIIB Benchmark conducted by the
Expert Group on Burnup Credit Criticality Safety under the auspices of the Nuclear Energy
Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The Benchmark was intended to compare the predictability of current computer code and
data library combinations for the atomic number densities of an irradiated BWR fuel
assembly model. The fuel assembly was irradiated under specific power of 25.6 MW/tHM

How to dispose of highly radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear power plants is a question that has remained unresolved in the face rapidly changing technological, economic, and political requirements. In the three decades following WWII, two federal agencies -- the Atomic Energy Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration -- tried unsuccessfully to develop a satisfactory plan for managing high level wastes.

The effective termination of the Yucca Mountain program by the U.S. Administration in 2009
has further delayed the construction and operation of a permanent disposal facility for used fuel
and high level radioactive waste (HLW) in the United States. In concert with this decision, the
President directed the Energy Secretary to establish the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s
Nuclear Future to review and provide recommendations on options for managing used fuel and

Since the mid-1980s, a significant number of studies have been directed at understanding the phenomena and
parameters important to implementation of burnup credit in out-of-reactor applications involving pressurizedwater-
reactor (PWR) spent fuel. The efforts directed at burnup credit involving boiling-water-reactor (BWR)
spent fuel have been more limited. This paper reviews the knowledge and experience gained from work
performed in the United States and other countries in the study of burnup credit. Relevant physics and analysis

This report has been prepared to review relevant background information and provide technical discussion that will help initiate a PIRT (Phenomena Identification and Ranking Tables) process for use of burnup credit in light-water reactor (LWR) spent fuel storage and transport cask applications. The PIRT process will be used by the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research to help prioritize and guide a coordinated program of research and as a means to obtain input/feedback from industry and other interested parties.

In January 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management (OCRWM) submitted the Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology
Topical Report, Revision 0 (TR) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
review and approval. The TR presents an overall approach for consideration of postclosure
disposal criticality of commercial and defense high-level waste to be placed at
the proposed Yucca Mountain site. During the course of the review and interactions

The fundamental objective of this topical report is to present the planned risk-informed disposal criticality analysis methodology to the NRC to seek acceptance that the principles of the methodology and the planned approach to validating the methodology are sound. The design parameters and environmental assumptions within which the waste forms will reside are currently not fully established and will vary with the detailed waste package design, engineered barrier design, repository design, and repository layout.

101. These Regulations establish standards of safety which provide an
acceptable level of control of the radiation, criticality and thermal hazards to
persons, property and the environment that are associated with the transport of
radioactive material. These Regulations utilize the principles set forth in both
the “Radiation Protection and the Safety of Radiation Sources”, Safety Series
No. 120 [1] and the “International Basic Safety Standards for Protection
against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources”, Safety

This standard provides criteria for accounting for reactivity effects of fuel irradiation and radioactive decay in criticality safety control of storage, transportation, and disposal of commercial LWR UO2 fuel assemblies.

This standard assumes the fuel and any fixed burnable absorbers are contained in an intact assembly. Additional considerations could be necessary for fuel assemblies that have been disassembled, consolidated, damaged, or reconfigured in any manner.

The Interim Staff Guidance on burnup credit (ISG-8) for spent fuel in storage and transportation casks, issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Spent Fuel Project Office, recommends a burnup measurement for each assembly to confirm the reactor record and compliance with the assembly burnup value used for loading acceptance. This recommendation is intended to prevent unauthorized loading (misloading) of assemblies due to inaccuracies in reactor burnup records and/or improper assembly identification, thereby ensuring that the appropriate subcritical margin is maintained.

This Integrated Issue Resolution Status Report provides background information about the status of prelicensing interactions between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concerning a potential high-level waste geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The NRC staff has, for many years, engaged in prelicensing interactions with DOE and various stakeholders.