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Impact of Partially Inserted Control Rods on Actinide-Only Burnup Credit Margin
Impact of Partially Inserted Control Rods on Actinide-Only Burnup Credit Margin
A New Method to Take Burnup into Account in Criticality Studies Considering an Axial Profile of Burn-up Plus some Fission Products
A New Method to Take Burnup into Account in Criticality Studies Considering an Axial Profile of Burn-up Plus some Fission Products
Consent-Based Siting Q&A With Dr. Kathryn Huff
Consent-Based Siting Q&A With Dr. Kathryn Huff
Dr. Kathryn Huff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy, explains consent-based siting process and the recently distributed request for information.
Consent-Based Siting: U.S. DOE Climate Action & Spent Nuclear Fuel Management
Consent-Based Siting: U.S. DOE Climate Action & Spent Nuclear Fuel Management
Nuclear energy is essential to tackling climate change. Maintaining the nation’s current fleet and deploying advanced reactors is crucial in achieving the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s ambitious goals of a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by the end of the decade, 100% clean electricity by 2035, and a net-zero economy by 2050.
However, to meet those goals, progress needs to be made in the management of spent nuclear fuel. Inaction on this issue has already cost taxpayers more than $9 billion in settlements and judgments.
Consent-Based Siting: Social Science & Nuclear Waste Management at the U.S. Department of Energy
Consent-Based Siting: Social Science & Nuclear Waste Management at the U.S. Department of Energy
Can anthropologists help the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) design a more environmentally just, participatory, and consent-based siting process for spent nuclear fuel management facilities? The DOE has committed to a consent-based approach to siting spent nuclear fuel management facilities that aims to enable broad community participation and center equity and environmental justice.
Spending Time on Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spending Time on Spent Nuclear Fuel
Making progress on the long-term management of spent nuclear fuel can be fraught with political and economic challenges, but groups within the U.S. are looking to try and tackle the challenge from many different angles. As the government ramps up efforts to support spent nuclear fuel management up to the limits of the law, ANS and others are making recommendations around, and receiving funding oriented to, pathways for progress.
Execution Strategy Analysis Conference Papers
Execution Strategy Analysis Conference Papers
Conference papers on the IWM Execution Strategy Analysis process and tool.
Research Supporting Implementation of Burnup Credit in the Criticality Safety Assessment of Transport and Storage Casks
Research Supporting Implementation of Burnup Credit in the Criticality Safety Assessment of Transport and Storage Casks
A Statistical Method for Estimating the Net Uncertainty in the Prediction of k Based on Isotopic Uncertainties
A Statistical Method for Estimating the Net Uncertainty in the Prediction of k Based on Isotopic Uncertainties
Validation of SCALE-4 for Burnup Credit Applications
Validation of SCALE-4 for Burnup Credit Applications
In the past, criticality analysis of pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel stored in racks and casks has assumed that the fuel is fresh with the maximum allowable initial enrichment. If credit is allowed for fuel burnup in the design of casks that are used in the transport of spent light water reactor fuel to a repository, the increase in payload can lead to a significant reduction in the cost of transport and a potential reduction in the risk to the public. A portion of the work has been performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in support of the U.S.
PWR Radiochemical Assay Benchmarks Using SAS2H and CASMO
PWR Radiochemical Assay Benchmarks Using SAS2H and CASMO
Recommendations for PWR Storage and Transportation Casks That Use Burnup Credit
Recommendations for PWR Storage and Transportation Casks That Use Burnup Credit
Regulatory Perspective on Potential Fuel Reconfiguration and Its Implication to High Burnup Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation
Regulatory Perspective on Potential Fuel Reconfiguration and Its Implication to High Burnup Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation
The recent experiments conducted by Argonne National Laboratory on high burnup fuel cladding material property show that the ductile to brittle transition temperature of high burnup fuel cladding is dependent on: (1) cladding material, (2) irradiation conditions, and (3) drying-storage histories (stress at maximum temperature) [1]. The experiment results also show that the ductile to brittle temperature increases as the fuel burnup increases.
Investigation of Average and Pin-Wise Burnup Modeling of PWR Fuel
Investigation of Average and Pin-Wise Burnup Modeling of PWR Fuel
Fission Product Experiment Program: Validation and Calculational Analysis
Fission Product Experiment Program: Validation and Calculational Analysis
From 1998 to 2004, a series of critical experiments referred to as the fission product (FP) experimental program was performed at the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique Valduc research facility. The experiments were designed by Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) and funded by AREVA NC and IRSN within the French program supporting development of a technical basis for burnup credit validation.
Improved Radiochemical Assay Analyses Using TRITON Depletion Sequences in SCALE
Improved Radiochemical Assay Analyses Using TRITON Depletion Sequences in SCALE
Issues for Effective Implementation of Burnup Credit
Issues for Effective Implementation of Burnup Credit
In the United States, burnup credit has been used in the criticality safety evaluation for storage pools at
pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and considerable work has been performed to lay the foundation for use of
burnup credit in dry storage and transport cask applications and permanent disposal applications. Many of the
technical issues related to the basic physics phenomena and parameters of importance are similar in each of these
applications. However, the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States has never been fully integrated and the
Regulatory Status of Burnup Credit for Spent-Fuel Storage and Transport Casks
Regulatory Status of Burnup Credit for Spent-Fuel Storage and Transport Casks
Cross-Checking of the Operator Data Used for Burn Up Measurements
Cross-Checking of the Operator Data Used for Burn Up Measurements
Taking into account of the loss of reactivity of fuels at the end of their irradiation is known under the
term burnup credit (BUC). It is a question of dimensioning in a less penalizing way the devices of transport,
storage or of processing with respect to the risk of criticality. In the context of nuclear criticality safety a better
realism cannot be obtained at the price of conservatism. As a result the regulator requires measurements make it
possible to validate the adequacy between real fuels and the design assumptions. The sophistication of the
Helping a Community Control its Future: Potential Negotiating Packages and Benefits for an MRS Host
Helping a Community Control its Future: Potential Negotiating Packages and Benefits for an MRS Host
The voluntary siting process for the Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility set forth in the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act (NWPAA) of 1987 provides a potential host community a unique opportunity to improve its present situation and to gain greater control over its future.
Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis of Commercial Reactor Criticals for Burnup Credit
Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis of Commercial Reactor Criticals for Burnup Credit
This paper provides insights into the neutronic similarities between a representative high-capacity rail-transport cask containing typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel assemblies and critical reactor state-points, referred to as commercial reactor critical (CRC) state-points. Forty CRC state-points from five PWRs were analyzed, and the characteristics of CRC state-points that may be applicable for validation of burnup-credit criticality safety calculations for spent fuel transport/storage/disposal systems were identified.
Review of Yucca mountain Disposal Criticality Studies
Review of Yucca mountain Disposal Criticality Studies
Review of Results for the OECD/NEA Phase VII Benchmark: Study of Spent Fuel Compositions for Long-Term Disposal
Review of Results for the OECD/NEA Phase VII Benchmark: Study of Spent Fuel Compositions for Long-Term Disposal
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - I: Methodology Overview
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - I: Methodology Overview
A conservative methodology is presented that would allow taking credit for burnup in the criticality safety analysis of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) packages. The method is based on the assumption that the isotopic concentration in the SNF and cross sections of each isotope for which credit is taken must be supported by validation experiments. The method allows credit for the changes in the 234U, 235U, 236U, 238U, 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu, and 241Am concentration with burnup. No credit for fission product neutron absorbers is taken. The methodology consists of five major steps: