Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-level Radioactive Waste

The characteristics of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste are described, and options for permanent disposal that have been considered are described. These include: •disposal in a mined geological formation, •disposal in a multinational repository, perhaps on an unoccupied island, •by in situ melting, perhaps in underground nuclear test cavities, •sub-seabed disposal, •disposal in deep boreholes, •disposal by melting through ice sheets or permafrost, •disposal by sending the wastes into space, and

Abridged History of Reactor and Fuel Cycle Technologies Development: A White Paper for the Reactor and Fuel Cycle Technology Subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Commission

The almost limitless energy of the atom was first harnessed in the United States, as scientists proved the basic physics of nuclear fission in a rudimentary reactor built in the floor of a squash court at the University of Chicago in 1942, and then harnessed that proven energy source in the form of atomic weapons used to end World War II. Scientists who accomplished this feat moved quickly after World War II to harness that power for peaceful uses, focusing primarily on electricity generation for industry, commerce, and household use.

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION – Request for Information

o Request: The current balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF). o Response: The balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund $24.56 billion as of November 2010. (Source: U.S. DOE OCRWM Annual Financial Report for Years Ended September 30, 2010 and 2009) o Request: The NWF fee projections of future fee receipts.

U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Waste Fund Fee Adequacy Assessment Report

The purpose of this U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Waste Fund Fee Adequacy Assessment Report (Assessment) is to present an analysis of the adequacy of the fee being paid by nuclear power utilities for the permanent disposal of their SNF and HLW by the United States government. This Assessment consists of six sections: Section 1 provides historical context and a comparison to previous fee adequacy assessments; Section 2 describes the system, cost, income, and

In-Package Chemistry Abstraction

This report was developed in accordance with the requirements in Technical Work Plan for Postclosure Waste Form Modeling (BSC 2005 [DIRS 173246]). The purpose of the in-package chemistry model is to predict the bulk chemistry inside of a breached waste package and to provide simplified expressions of that chemistry as a function of time after breach to Total Systems Performance Assessment for the License Application (TSPA-LA).

What We've Heard - A Staff Summary of Major Themes in Testimony and Comments Received by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to Date

The Commission is charged with submitting a draft report to the Secretary of Energy before the end of July 2011. To aid the Commissioners in fulfilling that responsibility, the Commission staff has prepared this report to summarize what the Commission has heard up to this point in the process. It does not attempt to recount every comment or opinion submitted to the Commission thus far; rather, the aim here is to summarize major themes from the extensive testimony and public comment the Commission has received to

Sequoyah Unit 2 CRC Depletion Calculations

The purpose of this calculation is to document the Sequoyah Unit 2 pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel depletion calculations performed as part of the commercial reactor critical (CRC) evaluation program. The CRC evaluations support the development and validation of the neutronics models used for criticality analyses involving commercial spent nuclear fuel in a geologic repository.

Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards, Executive Summary

The United States currently has no place to dispose of the high-level radioactive waste resulting from the production of the nuclear weapons and the operation of nuclear electronic power plants. The only option under formal consideration at this time is to place the waste in an underground geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, there is strong public debate about whether such a repository could protect humans from the radioactive waste that will be dangerous for many thousands of years. This book

Nuclear Waste Bill to Implement the Blue Ribbon Commission's Recommendations Section-by-Section Summary of Discussion Draft - April 2013

In General: The Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013 includes most of the language of S.3469, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2012. The most significant change in the 2013 bill is the provision linking construction and siting of a consolidated storage facility to progress on a repository. The 2012 Act prohibited storage of any spent nuclear fuel beyond 10,000 metric tons until the Administration concluded a repository consent agreement.

Criticality Evaluation of Intact and Degraded PWR WPs Containing MOX SNF

The purpose of this calculation is to perform criticality evaluations for mixed oxide spent nuclear fuel (MOX SNF) in 12 and 21 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) waste packages (WPs) for both intact and degraded configurations. The MOX assembly design considered in previous studies on Pu disposition in commercial reactors is based on the Westinghouse (W) 17x17 Vantage 5 assembly (Ref. 7.2). Depletion analyses of four Pu enrichment and burnup (expressed as gigawatt days/metric ton heavy metal; GWd/MTHM) combinations were performed in Reference 7.4. These are:

Evaluation of the French Haut Taux de Combustion (HTC) Critical Experiment Data

In the 1980s, a series of critical experiments referred to as the Haut Taux de Combustion (HTC) experiments was conducted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) at the experimental criticality facility in Valduc, France. The plutonium-to- uranium ratio and the isotopic compositions of both the uranium and plutonium used in the simulated fuel rods were designed to be similar to what would be found in a typical pressurized-water reactor fuel assembly that initially had an

Spent Nuclear Fuel Management: How centralized interim storage can expand options and reduce costs

The purpose of this study is to assist decision makers in evaluating the centralized interim storage option. We explore the economics of centralized interim storage under a wide variety of circumstances. We look at how a commitment to move forward with centralized interim storage today could evolve over time. And, we evaluate the costs of reversing a commitment toward centralized storage if it turns out that such a decision is later considered a mistake. We have not

Waste Package Flooding Probability Evaluation

The objective of this calculation is to evaluate the probability of flooding a waste package with seepage water. Disruptive events can affect the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) components and have the potential to allow an advective flow of seepage water to reach the waste package. The advective and diffusive flow paths into the waste package have the potential to result in water accumulation inside the waste package, which in turn can lead to a potentially critical configuration. This calculation will evaluate the following:

MCNP CRC Reactivity Calculation For Quad Cities BWR

The purpose of this analysis is to document the Commercial Reactor Critical (CRC) benchmark evaluation performed for the Quad Cities Unit 1 boiling water reactor (BWR). The CRC benchmark is performed at a beginning of life (BOL) statepoint representing reactor start-up critical conditions. The objective of this CRC benchmark analysis is to provide a validation benchmark for the MCNP 4A analytic tool for use in the disposal criticality analysis methodology.

Overview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Its Regulatory Process for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle for Light Water Reactors

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.

Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation: An Examination of Potential Lessons Learned from Prior Shipping Campaigns

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended, assigned the Department of Energy (DOE) responsibility for developing and managing a Federal system for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is responsible for accepting, transporting, and disposing of SNF and HLW at the Yucca Mountain repository (if licensed) in a manner that protects public health, safety, and the environment; enhances national and energy security; and

Draft Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

This Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) provides an analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program, which is a United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) program intended to support a safe, secure, and sustainable expansion of nuclear energy, both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the GNEP Program would promote technologies that support economic, sustained production of nuclear-generated electricity, while reducing the impacts associated with

EQ6 Calculations for Chemical Degradation of Pu-Ceramic Waste Packages

In this study, the long-term geochemical behavior of waste package (WP), containing Pu-ceramic, was modeled. The ceramic under consideration contains Ti, U, Pu, Gd and Hf in a pyrochlore structure; the Gd and Hf stabilize the mineral structure, but are also intended to provide criticality control. The specific study objectives were to determine: 1) the extent to which criticality control material, suggested for this WP design, will remain in the WP after corrosion/dissolution of the initial package configuration (such that it can be effective in preventing criticality), and

MCNP Evaluation of Laboratory Critical Experiments: Lattice Criticals

The purpose of this analysis is to document the MCNP evaluations of benchmark lattice Laboratory Critical Experiments (LCE's). The objective of this analysis is to quantify the MCNP 4A (Reference 5.4) code system's ability to accurately calculate the effective neutron multiplication factor (keff) for various measured critical (i.e., keff= 1.0) configurations. This analysis quantifies the effectiveness of the MCNP criticality calculation for lattice configurations containing U02 and Pu02 fissile oxide fuel using two different cross section data libraries.

Waste Package Probabilistic Criticality Analysis: Summary Report of Evaluations in 1997

The emplacement of nuclear waste in the proposed geologic repository must satisfy relevant regulatory requirements with respect to criticality, 10CFR60. I31 (h) (Ref. 25). The waste packages for the various waste forms will be designed to preclude criticality (typically by the inclusion of neutron absorbers) even if the waste package becomes filled with water. Criticality may, however, be possible if the contents of the waste package become degraded in such a way that the fissile material can be separated from the neutron absorbers, while sufficient moderator is retained.

THE ROLE OF INDIAN TRIBES IN AMERICA’S NUCLEAR FUTURE

Indian tribes have voiced their tribal issues in the United States‘ nuclear effort since its inception, with the siting of what would become Los Alamos National Laboratory adjacent to the San Ildefonso Pueblo Reservation and the Hanford plutonium production works along waterways shared with the Yakama Nation and other Indian tribes. The siting of a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada along with other activities conducted on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) (formerly the Nevada Test Site), increased the need for the United States

Frequency of SNF Misload for Uncanistered Fuel Waste Package

The purpose ofthis engineering calculation is to estimate the frequency of misloading spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies that would result in exceeding the criticality design basis of a waste package (WP). This type of misload - a reactivity misload - results from the incorrect placement of one or more fuel assemblies into a waste package such that the criticality controls do not match the required controls for the fuel assemblies.

Validation of important fission product evaluations through CERES integral benchmarks

Optimization of energy resources suggests increased fuel residence in reactor cores and hence improved fission product evaluations are required. For thermal reactors the fission product cross sections in the JEF2.2 and JEFF3.1 libraries plus new evaluations from WPEC23 are assessed through modelling the CERES experiment in the DIMPLE reactor. The analysis uses the lattice code WIMS10. Cross sections for 12 nuclides are assessed. The thermal cross section and low energy resonance data for 147,152Sm and 155Gd are accurate to within 4%. Similar data

THE REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS BY THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY ON THE NEED FOR 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.

slides - Potential Improvements to the Licensing Process for a Recycling Plant

Presented at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, May 7-9, 2013