This written testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee discusses the storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel. This entry has a PDF printout of the <a href="http://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-moniz-s-written-testimony-sena… webpage</a>.

The Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste is a framework for moving toward a sustainable program to deploy an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of used nuclear fuel1 and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defense, national security and other activities.

This model report documents the drift scale coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) processes model development and presents simulations of the THM behavior in fractured rock close to emplacement drifts. The modeling and analyses are used to evaluate the impact of THM processes on permeability and flow in the near-field of the emplacement drifts.

The purpose of this analysis is to provide input on the criticality potential of various degraded configurations to an analysis on the probability of a criticality event in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Advanced Uncanistered Fuel (AUCF) Waste Package (WP).

The "Summary Report of Commercial Reactor Criticality Data for Davis-Besse Unit 1" contains the detailed information necessary to perform commercial reactor criticality (CRC) analyses for the Davis-Besse Unit 1 reactor.

The preclosure criticality analysis process described in this technical report provides a systematic approach for determining the need for criticality controls and for evaluating their effectiveness during the preclosure period of the Monitored Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

The purpose and scope of this model report is to document models for general and localized corrosion of the waste package outer barrier (WPOB) to be used in evaluating long-term waste package performance in the total system performance assessment (TSPA). The waste package design for the license application is a double-wall waste package placed underneath a protective drip shield (SNL 2007 [DIRS 179394]; SNL 2007 [DIRS 179354]). The WPOB will be constructed of Alloy 22 (UNS N06022) (SNL 2007 [DIRS 179567], Section 4.1.1.6), a highly corrosion-resistant nickel-based alloy.

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.

This report presents studies to assess reactivity margins and loading curves for pressurized water reactor
(PWR) burnup-credit criticality safety evaluations. The studies are based on a generic high-density 32-
assembly cask and systematically vary individual calculational (depletion and criticality) assumptions to
demonstrate the impact on the predicted effective neutron multiplication factor, keff, and burnup-credit
loading curves. The purpose of this report is to provide a greater understanding of the importance of

Past efforts by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and others have provided sufficient technical information to enable the NRC to issue regulatory guidance for implementation of pressurized-water reactor (PWR) burnup credit; however, consideration of only the reactivity change due to the major actinides is recommended in the guidance.

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the transient behavior and consequences of a worst case criticality event involving intact pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in a degraded basket configuration inside a 21 PWR assembly waste package (WP). The objective of this analysis is to demonstrate that the consequences of a worst case criticality event involving intact PWR SNF are insignificant in their effect on the overall radioisotopic inventory in a WP. An internal WP criticality is modeled in a manner analogous to transient phenomena in a nuclear reactor core.

The purpose of this calculation report, Range of Applicability and Bias Determination for Postclosure
Criticality of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel, is to validate the computational method used to perform
postclosure criticality calculations. The validation process applies the criticality analysis methodology
approach documented in Section 3.5 of the Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology Topical Report.1
The application systems for this validation consist of waste packages containing transport, aging, and

Fundamentally, a nuclear energy system uses nuclear fission to create heat, which is then available for generating electricity or other applications, including seawater desalination, heating, and production of other fuels. The nuclear energy system as currently deployed in the United States, Figure 1, consists of a number of integrated components, beginning with the natural resources required for nuclear fuel, followed by fissioning of the fuel in reactors connected to electricity generation facilities, and ending with the disposition of all wastes, including used nuclear fuel (UNF).

This analysis is prepared by the Mined Geologic Disposal System (MGDS) Waste Package Development (WPD) department with the objective of providing a comprehensive, conservative estimate of the consequences of the criticality which could possibly occur as the result of commercial spent nuclear fuel emplaced in the underground repository at Yucca Mountain. The consequences of criticality are measured principally in terms of the resulting changes in radionuclide inventory as a function of the power level and duration of the criticality.

The Construction Industry Research and Policy Center (CIRPC) at the University of Tennessee was awarded a contract by the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, under their grant program with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), to analyze injuries of employees of the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) and their contractors’ working at DOE work sites. The injury data analyzed were injuries recorded in DOE’s Computerized Accident Incident Reporting System (CAIRS).

Over the decade since NWPA, the disposal
program's strategy, based on its interpretation of the
legislative mandate and regulatory requirements, has
sought:
• in a single large step and under a tight
schedule, to achieve the first-of-a-kind licensing
of a first-of-a-kind repository for isolating
wastes from the human environment for many
thousands of years.
• in a single large step and as rapidly as possible,
to build a full-scale repository and begin
disposing of the bulk of the nation's inventory

The Department of Energy (DOE) is studying a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for a
permanent underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear reactors,
but delays have pushed back the facility’s opening date to 2010 at the earliest. In the
meantime, spent fuel is accumulating at U.S. nuclear plant sites at the rate of about 2,000
metric tons per year. Major options for managing those growing quantities of nuclear spent
fuel include continued storage at reactors, construction of a DOE interim storage site near

The purpose of this calculation is to document the LaSalle Unit 1 boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel depletion calculations performed as part of the commercial reactor critical (CRC) evaluation program. The CRC evaluations constitute benchmark calculations that support the development and validation of the neutronics models used for criticality analyses involving commercial spent nuclear fuel in a geologic repository. This calculation incorporates control blade effects and minor variations in the SAS2H assembly modeling.

The Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste is a framework for moving toward a sustainable program to deploy an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of used nuclear fuel1 and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defense, national security and other activities.

The almost limitless energy of the atom was first harnessed in the United States, as scientists proved the basic physics of nuclear fission in a rudimentary reactor built in the floor of a squash court at the University of Chicago in 1942, and then harnessed that proven energy source in the form of atomic weapons used to end World War II. Scientists who accomplished this feat moved quickly after World War II to harness that power for peaceful uses, focusing primarily on electricity generation for industry, commerce, and household use.

o Request: The current balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF).
o Response: The balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund $24.56 billion as of November 2010. (Source: U.S. DOE OCRWM Annual Financial Report for Years Ended September 30, 2010 and 2009)
o Request: The NWF fee projections of future fee receipts.

The Commission is charged with submitting a
draft report to the Secretary of Energy before
the end of July 2011. To aid the Commissioners
in fulfilling that responsibility, the Commission
staff has prepared this report to summarize what
the Commission has heard up to this point in
the process. It does not attempt to recount every
comment or opinion submitted to the Commission
thus far; rather, the aim here is to summarize
major themes from the extensive testimony and
public comment the Commission has received to

The purpose of this calculation is to document the Sequoyah Unit 2 pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel depletion calculations performed as part of the commercial reactor critical (CRC) evaluation program. The CRC evaluations support the development and validation of the neutronics models used for criticality analyses involving commercial spent nuclear fuel in a geologic repository.