This report has been prepared to review relevant background information and provide technical discussion that will help initiate a PIRT (Phenomena Identification and Ranking Tables) process for use of burnup credit in light-water reactor (LWR) spent fuel storage and transport cask applications. The PIRT process will be used by the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research to help prioritize and guide a coordinated program of research and as a means to obtain input/feedback from industry and other interested parties.

In January 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management (OCRWM) submitted the Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology
Topical Report, Revision 0 (TR) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
review and approval. The TR presents an overall approach for consideration of postclosure
disposal criticality of commercial and defense high-level waste to be placed at
the proposed Yucca Mountain site. During the course of the review and interactions

The fundamental objective of this topical report is to present the planned risk-informed disposal criticality analysis methodology to the NRC to seek acceptance that the principles of the methodology and the planned approach to validating the methodology are sound. The design parameters and environmental assumptions within which the waste forms will reside are currently not fully established and will vary with the detailed waste package design, engineered barrier design, repository design, and repository layout.

The data were obtained directly from utilities whose reactors represent the range of commercial PWR fuel lattices. The work was performed by Yankee Atomic Electric for Sandia National Laboratory. All axial burnup profiles were calculated from 3-D depletion analyses of the core configuration. The organizations and utilities providing axial burnup profiles for the database used different model codes for the 3D-depletion calculations. The model codes used were: SIMULATE-3, NEMO, ANC, and PRESTO-II. Cross-section inputs describing the assemblies are derived from assembly lattice calculations.

101. These Regulations establish standards of safety which provide an
acceptable level of control of the radiation, criticality and thermal hazards to
persons, property and the environment that are associated with the transport of
radioactive material. These Regulations utilize the principles set forth in both
the “Radiation Protection and the Safety of Radiation Sources”, Safety Series
No. 120 [1] and the “International Basic Safety Standards for Protection
against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources”, Safety

This standard provides criteria for accounting for reactivity effects of fuel irradiation and radioactive decay in criticality safety control of storage, transportation, and disposal of commercial LWR UO2 fuel assemblies.

This standard assumes the fuel and any fixed burnable absorbers are contained in an intact assembly. Additional considerations could be necessary for fuel assemblies that have been disassembled, consolidated, damaged, or reconfigured in any manner.

The Interim Staff Guidance on burnup credit (ISG-8) for spent fuel in storage and transportation casks, issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Spent Fuel Project Office, recommends a burnup measurement for each assembly to confirm the reactor record and compliance with the assembly burnup value used for loading acceptance. This recommendation is intended to prevent unauthorized loading (misloading) of assemblies due to inaccuracies in reactor burnup records and/or improper assembly identification, thereby ensuring that the appropriate subcritical margin is maintained.

This Integrated Issue Resolution Status Report provides background information about the status of prelicensing interactions between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concerning a potential high-level waste geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The NRC staff has, for many years, engaged in prelicensing interactions with DOE and various stakeholders.