Taking credit for the reduced reactivity of spent nuclear fuel in criticality analyses is referred to
as burnup credit. Criticality safety evaluations employing burnup credit require validation of the
depletion and criticality calculation methods and computer codes with available measurement
data. To address the issues of burnup credit criticality validation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission initiated a project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to (1) develop and establish

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

The purpose of this directory is to make available a convenient source of information on package designs approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. To assist in identifying packages, an index by Model Number and corresponding Certificate of Compliance Number is included at the front of Volume 2. The report includes all package designs approved prior to the publication date of the directory as of September 2013.

The U.S. industry’s limited efforts at licensing transportation packages characterized as “highcapacity,”
or containing “high-burnup” (>45 GWd/MTU) commercial spent nuclear fuel
(CSNF), or both, have not been successful considering existing spent-fuel inventories that will
have to be eventually transported. A holistic framework is proposed for resolving several CSNF
transportation issues. The framework considers transportation risks, spent-fuel and cask-design

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 HLW.

This paper provides a brief description of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and its regulatory process for the current nuclear fuel cycle for light water power reactors (LWRs). It focuses on the regulatory framework for the licensing of facilities in the fuel cycle. The first part of the paper provides an overview of the NRC and its regulatory program including a description of its organization, function, authority, and responsibilities.

The purpose of this study is to provide insights into the neutronic similarities that may exist between a
generic cask containing typical spent nuclear fuel assemblies and commercial reactor critical (CRC) state-
points. Forty CRC state-points from five pressurized-water reactors were selected for the study and the
type of CRC state-points that may be applicable for validation of burnup credit criticality safety
calculations for spent fuel transport/storage/disposal systems are identified. The study employed cross-

Spent fuel transportation and storage cask designs based on a burnup credit approach must
consider issues that are not relevant in casks designed under a fresh-fuel loading assumption. For
example, the spent fuel composition must be adequately characterized and the criticality analysis
model can be complicated by the need to consider axial burnup variations. Parametric analyses are
needed to characterize the importance of fuel assembly and fuel cycle parameters on spent fuel

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)

The objective of this safety requirements publication is to set down the protection objectives and criteria for geological disposal and to establish the requirements that must be met to ensure the safety of this disposal option, consistent with the established principles of safety for radioactive waste management.