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.

The Report to the President and the Congress by the Secretary of Energy on the Need to a Second Repository

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA), establishes a process for the siting, construction and operation of one or more national repositories for permanent disposal of the Nation’s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). In 1987, after the Department of Energy (the Department or DOE) had conducted studies of nine potential repository sites located throughout the United States, Congress amended the NWPA and selected the Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada as the only site for further study for the first national repository.

Recommendation by the Secretary of Energy of Candidate Sites for Site Characterization for the First Radioactive-Waste Repository

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

Investigation of Average and Pin-Wise Burnup Modeling of PWR Fuel

Burnup Credit - Technical Basis for Spent-Fuel Burnup Verification

Present regulatory practices provide as much burnup credit flexibility as can be currently expected. Further progress is achievable by incorporating the negative reactivity effects of a subset of neutron-absorbing fission-product isotopes, and by optimizing the procedural approach for establishing the burnup characteristics of the spent fuel to be loaded in burnup-creditdesigned storage and transportation systems. This report describes progress toward developing a

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

A Technology Roadmap for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Ten Nations Preparing Today for Tomorrow's Energy Needs

The world’s population is expected to expand from about 6 billion people to 10 billion people by the year 2050, all striving for a better quality of life. As the Earth’s population grows, so will the demand for energy and the benefits that it brings: improved standards of living, better health and longer life expectancy, improved literacy and opportunity, and many others.

Application of Spatial Data Modeling Systems, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Transportation Routing Optimization Methods for Evaluating Integrated Deployment of Interim Spent Fuel Storage Installations and Advanced Nuclear Plants

The objective of this siting study work is to support DOE in evaluating integrated advanced nuclear plant and ISFSI deployment options in the future. This study looks at several nuclear power plant growth scenarios that consider the locations of existing and planned commercial nuclear power plants integrated with the establishment of consolidated interim spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs).

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

International Comparison of a Depletion Calculation Benchmark on Fuel Cycle Issues - Results from Phase 1 on UOx Fuels

Although there are many reactor system benchmarks in the literature, they mostly concentrate on the reactor system in isolation with only a few considering the fuel cycle. However, there is currently increased emphasis on the performance of reactor systems linked to their associated fuel cycle (Generation-IV for example). The published international benchmark studies which relate to burn-up depletion calculations are restricted to specific aspects of the fuel cycle:

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

NRC Waste Confidence Rulemaking, Federal Register, 1984, 1990, 1999, and 2008

NRC Waste Confidence Rulemaking, Federal Register, 1984, 1990, 1999, and 2008

BWR Axial Profile

Opinion: Rep. John Shimkus in the Chicago Tribune: Yucca Mountain is the Fastest, Best, and Most Viable Solution

Our country faces a mounting challenge when it comes to nuclear energy: the safe, long-term disposal of spent fuel from commercial reactors and leftover waste from defense activity. It's a challenge with a decades-long history.

Managing the Nation's Commercial High-Level Radioactive Waste

With the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), Congress for the first time established in law a comprehensive Federal policy for commercial high-level radioactive waste management, including interim storage and permanent disposal. NWPA provides sufficient authority for developing and operating a high-level radioactive waste management system based on disposal in mined geologic repositories. Authorization

Nuclear Waste: Is There a Need for Federal Interim Storage--Executive Summary--Report of the Monitored Retrievable Storage Commission

Confidence in the Long-term Safety of Deep Geological Repositories--Its Development and Communication

Confidence in the long-term safety of deep geological disposal, and the ways in which this confidence can be obtained and communicated, are topics of great importance to the radioactive waste management community.1 The technical aspects of confidence have been the subject of considerable debate, especially the concept of model validation. It has, for example, been pointed out that it is impossible to describe fully the evolution of an open system, such as a repository and its environment, that cannot be

Computational Benchmark for Estimated Reactivity Margin from Fission Products and Minor Actinides in BWR Burnup Credit

This report proposes and documents a computational benchmark for the estimation of the additional reactivity margin available in spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from fission products and minor actinides in a burnup-credit storage/transport environment, relative to SNF compositions containing only the major actinides. The benchmark problem/configuration is a generic burnupcredit cask designed to hold 68 boiling water reactor (BWR) spent nuclear fuel assemblies. The purpose of this computational benchmark is to provide a reference configuration for the

Review and Prioritization of Technical Issues Related to Burnup Credit for BWR Fuel

This report has been prepared to support technical discussion of and planning for future research supporting implementation of burnup credit for boiling-water reactor (BWR) spent fuel storage in spent fuel pools and storage and transport cask applications. The review and discussion in this report are based on knowledge and experience gained from work performed in the United States and other countries, including experience with burnup credit for pressurized-water reactor (PWR) spent fuel. Relevant physics and analysis phenomena are

A Multiattribute Utility Analysis of Sites Nominated for Characterization for the First Radioactive-Waste Repository--A Decision-Aiding Methodology

The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended, the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), has the responsibility to provide for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.* The DOE selected mined geologic repositories as the preferred means for the disposal of commercially generated high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel (Federal Register, Vol. 46, p. 26677, May 14,

Transportation and Storage Subcommittee Report to the Full Commission - Updated Report

To organize its investigation of whether changes are needed in the nation’s current approach to storing and eventually transporting spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW), the Subcommittee began by asking a series of related questions: • What role should storage play in an integrated U.S. waste management system and strategy in the future?

Options for Developing Public and Stakeholder Engagement for the Storage and Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and High Lievel Waste (HLW) in the United States

This report puts forth a number of options and recommendations for how to engage stakeholders and other members of the public in the storage and management of spent nuclear fuel and high level waste in the United States. The options are generated from a scientific review of existing publications proposing criteria for assessing past efforts to engage publics and stakeholders in decision-making about risky technologies. A set of nine principles are derived for evaluating cases of public and stakeholder engagement with