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.

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 attached documents are an extensive list of references relevant to burnup credit criticality analysis. Some of the references may be available within the CURIE document collection.

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.

The purpose of this scientific analysis report, CSNF Loading Curve Sensitivity Analysis, is to establish the required minimum burnup as a function of initial enrichment for both pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF) that would allow permanent disposal of these waste forms in the geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. The relationship between the required minimum burnup and fuel assembly initial enrichment forms a loading curve.

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

Following the proposals for nuclear fuel assurance of International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed El Baradei, former Russian President Vladimir V.
Putin, and U.S. President George W. Bush, joint committees of the Russian Academy of
Sciences (RAS) and the U.S. National Academies (NAS) were formed to address these and other
fuel assurance concepts and their links to nonproliferation goals. The joint committees also
addressed many technology issues relating to the fuel assurance concepts. This report provides

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

This report evaluates the relative economics of alternative fuel cycles compared to the current
U.S. once-through fuel cycle, including concepts under consideration by the U.S. Department of
Energy’s (DOE) Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). EPRI utilized a model developed
by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), Steady-state analysis Model for Advanced Fuel Cycle
Schemes (SMAFS), to evaluate fuel cycle alternatives. The report also evaluates potential
financing options for a fuel recycling facility. Please note that this report contains preliminary

This report presents the results of a dynamic simulation analysis for deployment of advanced light water reactors (LWRs) and fast burner reactors, as proposed by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program. Conditions for the analysis were selected for their potential to challenge the nuclear fuel simulation codes that were used, due to the large variations in nuclear fuel composition for the burner reactors before equilibrium conditions are approached. The analysis was performed in a U.S.

This paper reviews validation issues associated with implementation of burnup credit in transport, dry storage,
and disposal. The issues discussed are ones that have been identified by one or more constituents of the
United States technical community (national laboratories, licensees, and regulators) that have been exploring the
use of burnup credit. There is not necessarily agreement on the importance of the various issues, which
sometimes is what creates the issue. The broad issues relate to the paucity of available experimental data

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