slides - Transportation Readiness
slides - Transportation Readiness
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
The purpose of this report, and the information contained in the associated computerized data bases, is to establish the DOE/OCRWM reference characteristics of the radioactive waste materials that may be accepted by DOE for emplacement in the mined geologic disposal system as developed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. This report provides relevant technical data for use by DOE and its supporting contractors and is not intended to be a policy document.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, established a statutory basis
for managing the nation’s civilian (or commercially produced) spent nuclear
fuel. The law established a process for siting, developing, licensing, and constructing
an underground repository for the permanent disposal of that waste.
Utilities were given the primary responsibility for storing spent fuel until it is
accepted by the Department of Energy (DOE) for disposal at a repository —
originally expected to begin operating in 1998. Since then, however, the repository
This is the Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation Project Director's presentation on Near Term Planning for Stroage and Transportation of Used Nuclear Fuel presented to the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management on January 14, 2013 in Arlington Va.
The Used Fuel Disposition (UFD) Transportation Task commenced in October 2010. As its first task, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) compiled a list of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) of transportation systems and their possible degradation mechanisms during extended storage. The list of SSCs and the associated degradation mechanisms [known as features, events, and processes (FEPs)] were based on the list of used nuclear fuel (UNF) storage system SSCs and degradation mechanisms developed by the UFD Storage Task (Hanson et al. 2011).
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), established a
step-by-step process for the siting of the nation's first repository for
high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. The Act gave the Department of
Energy (DOE) the primary responsibility for conducting this siting process.
The first step in the process laid out in the Act was the development by
the DOE, with the concurrence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), of
general guidelines to be used by the Secretary of the DOE (the Secretary) in
The purpose of this document is to provide the requirements rationale for the current version of the Preliminary Transportation, Aging and Disposal Canister System Performance Specification; WMO-TADCS-000001.
A brief history of operation, decommissioning, and the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel
Several rod consolidation systems have been demonstrated in the United States with simulated boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel. The first U.S. consolidation of irradiated fuel was successfully demonstrated with four PWR fuel assemblies at the Oconee Nuclear Station in October-November 1982 (1-3) and with one PWR fuel assembly at Maine Yankee in August 1983(4). Maine Yankee has received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to consolidate up to 20 fuel assemblies(5).
Spent Fuel Project Office, Interim Staff Guidance - 8, Revision 2 - Burnup Credit in the Criticality Safety Analyses of PWR Spent Fuel in Transport
and Storage Casks
Thirty spent fuel samples obtained from boiling-water-reactor (BWR) fuel pins have been
modeled at Oak Ridge National Laboratory using the SAS2H sequence of the SCALE code system.
The SAS2H sequence uses transport methods combined with the depletion and decay capabilities
of the ORIGEN-S code to estimate the isotopic composition of fuel as a function of its burnup
history. Results of these calculations are compared with chemical assay measurements of spent fuel
inventories for each sample. Results show reasonable agreement between measured and predicted
The Analysis of the Total System Life Cycle Cost (TSLCC) of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program represents the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's most recent estimate of the costs to dispose of the Nations's spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). This TSLCC analysis projects all Program costs through 2119 for a surrogate, single potential repository. The design and emplacement concepts in this TSLCC analysis are the same as those presented in the Monitored Geologic Repository Project Description Document.
The validity of the computation of pressurized-water-reactor (PWR) spent fuel isotopic
composition by the SCALE system depletion analysis was assessed using data presented in the report.
Radiochemical measurements and SCALE/SAS2H computations of depleted fuel isotopics were
compared with 19 benchmark-problem samples from Calvert Cliffs Unit 1, H. B. Robinson Unit 2,
and Obrigheim PWRs. Even though not exhaustive in scope, the validation included comparison of
predicted and measured concentrations for 14 actinides and 37 fission and activation products.
This report provides details of dry storage cask systems and contents in U.S. for commercial light water
reactor fuel. Section 2 contains details on the canisters used to store approximately 86% of assemblies in
dry storage in the U.S. Transport cask details for bare fuels, dual purpose casks and canister transport
casks are included in Section 3. Section 4 details the inventory of those shutdown sites without any
operating reactors. Information includes the cask type deployed, transport license and status as well as
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
US policy for management of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and high level radioactive wastes (HLRW) is at a crossroads, and the success of new policy directions will depend in part on broad public acceptance and support. In this paper I provide an overview of the evidence concerning the beliefs and concerns of members of the American public regarding UNF and HLNW. I also characterize the evidence on American’s policy preferences for management of these materials.
This report summarizes the results of an initial investigation into the uncertainties associated with the burnup records maintained by nuclear power plants. The results indicate that there is an overall uncertainty of about 2 percent in the burnup records, which must be accounted for in spent fuel applications.
The management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and defense high level waste (HLW) is a complex sociotechnical
systems challenge. Coordinated, reliable, and safe performance will be required over very long
periods of time within evolving social and technical contexts. To accomplish these goals, a waste
management system will involve a host of facilities for interim storage and longterm disposal, a
transportation infrastructure, and research and development centers. The complexity of SNF and HLW
Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013
About 20,000 metric tons of spent, or used, nuclear
fuel have accumulated since the beginning of commercial
nuclear power prbduction in the United States. At the end
of the currently licensed period of all existing nuclear power
plants and those under construction, the amount of spent
nuclear fuel is expected to total 87,000 metric tons.
Thus far, practically all of the spent nuclear fuel is
stored in water-filled pools at reactor sites. However, space
does not exist in the pools to store all the spent fuel expected
To achieve energy security and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction objectives, the United States must develop and deploy clean, affordable, domestic energy sources as quickly as possible. Nuclear power will continue to be a key component of a portfolio of technologies that meets our energy goals. This document provides a roadmap for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) research, development, and demonstration activities that will ensure nuclear energy remains viable energy option for the United States.
Every year, more than 300 million packages of hazardous material are shipped in the
United States (U.S.). Most of the hazardous material shipped – about 97 percent – is
flammable, explosive, corrosive or poisonous. About 1 percent – three million packages –
of the hazardous materials shipped annually contains radioactive material, most of them
from medical and industrial applications. [DOT 1998b]
Spent nuclear fuel comprises a very small fraction of the hazardous materials packages
Taking credit for the reduced reactivity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in criticality analyses is referred to as burnup credit (BUC). Criticality safety evaluations require validation of the computational methods with critical experiments that are as similar as possible to the safety analysis models, and for which the keff values are known. This poses a challenge for validation of BUC criticality analyses, as critical experiments with actinide and fission product (FP)