Transportation, Aging, and Disposal Canister System Performance Specification

This document provides specifications for selected system components of the Transportation, Aging and Disposal (TAD) canister-based system. A list of

Shipping Damaged Fuel From Three Mile Island to Idaho

The General Accounting Office examined DOE's "program to ship damaged nuclear fuel from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory." The report was requested by Reps. William L. Clay, Richard A. Gephardt, and Alan Wheat.

TEV Collision with an Emplaced 5-DHLW/DOE SNF Short Co-Disposal Waste Package

The objective of this calculation is to determine the structural response of the 5-DHLW/DOE (Defense High Level Waste/Department of Energy) SNF (Spent Nuclear Fuel) Short Co-disposal Waste Package (WP) when subjected (while in the horizontal orientation emplaced in the drift) to a collision by a loaded (with WP) Transport and Emplacement Vehicle (TEV) due to an over-run. The scope of this calculation is limited to reporting the calculation results in terms of maximum total stress intensities (SIs) in the outer corrosion barrier (OCB).

Enrico Fermi Fast Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Criticality Calculations: Degraded Mode

The objective of this calculation is to characterize the nuclear criticality safety concerns associated with the codisposal of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Enrico Fermi (EF) Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) in a 5-Defense High-Level Waste (5-DHLW) Waste Package (WP) and placed in a Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR). The scope of this calculation is limited to the determination of the effective neutron multiplication factor (keff) for the degraded mode internal configurations of the codisposal WP. The results of this calculation and those of Ref. 8

NUREG-1768 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commisssion Package Performance Study Test Protocals

This test protocols report presents the NRC staff’s preliminary plans for an experimental phase of the Package Performance Study (PPS), which is examining the response of transportation casks to extreme transportation accident conditions. The staff proposes to conduct tests of full-scale rail and full-scale truck casks including a high-speed impact with an unyielding surface followed by an extreme fire test. The NRC has a contract in place with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct the impact and fire tests and to carry out a series of analyses to support the test program.

DHLW Glass Waste Package Criticality Analysis

This analysis is prepared by the Mined Geologic Disposal System (MGDS) Waste Package Development Department (WPDD) to determine the viability of the Defense High-Level Waste (DHLW) Glass waste package concept with respect to criticality regulatory requirements in compliance with the goals of the Waste Package Implementation Plan (Ref. 5.1) for conceptual design. These design calculations are performed in sufficient detail to provide a comprehensive comparison base with other design alternatives.

External Criticality Risk of Immobilized Plutonium Waste Form in a Geologic Repository

This technical report provides an updated summary of the waste package (WP) external criticalityrelated risk of the plutonium disposition ceramic waste form, which is being developed and evaluated by the Office of Fissile Materials Disposition of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The ceramic waste form consists of Pu immobilized in ceramic disks, which would be embedded in High-Level Waste (HLW) glass in the HLW glass disposal canisters, known as the "can-incanister"

Disposal Criticality Analysis for Aluminum-based Fuel in a Codisposal Waste Package - ORR and MIT SNF - Phase II

The objective of this analysis is to characterize the criticality safety aspects of a degraded Department of Energy spent nuclear fuel (DOE-SNF) canister containing Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Oak Ridge Research (ORR) fuel in the Five-Pack Defense High-Level Waste (DHLW) waste package to demonstrate concept viability related to use in the Mined Geologic Disposal System (MGDS) environment for the postclosure time frame.

YMP Preliminary Wet Handling Facility Throughput Study

This study describes the development of a preliminary throughput estimate for a Wet Handling Facility (WHF)/ used fuel repackaging factility. This study estimates the throughput for the WHF License Application design for a repository at Yucca Mountain as of September 2007. This design freeze allowed for the development of the throughput study without having to accommodate for minor updates to the facility design and documentation leading up to the License Application.

Plutonium Fuel: An Assessment Report by an Expert Group

Ever since the 1950s, plutonium, used in fas reactors, has been seen as the key to unlocking the vast energy resource contained in the the world's uranium reserves. However, the reductions in expected nuclear reactor installation rates, combined with discovery of additional uranium, have led to a lengthening in the perceived time interval before fast reactors, the most effective users of plutonium, will make large demands on plutonium supplies. THere are several options concerning its use or storage in the meantime.

Nuclear Criticality Calculations for Canister-Based Facilities - DOE SNF

The purpose of this calculation is to perform waste-form specific nuclear criticality safety calculations to aid in establishing criticality safety design criteria, and to identify design and process parameters that are potentially important to the criticality safety of Department of Energy (DOE) standardized Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) canisters. It is intended that the results of the criticality safety calculations provided in this document will

Nuclear Criticality Calculations for Canister-Based Facilities - Commercial SNF

The results of the MCNP criticality safety calculations described in this document are presented in Section 7.1. Based on the results presented attributes of the TAD canister-based systems that are important to ensuring their subcriticality are established. These attributes can be categorized according to the criticality control parameter that is impacted. Based on the categorization presented it is seen that moderation control is the underlying criticality control parameter for TAD canister-based systems containing CSNF with a maximum initial enrichment of 5 wt.% 235U/U.

Criticality Analysis of Pu and U accumulations in a Tuff Fracture Network

The objective of this analysis is to evaluate accumulations within the thermally altered tuff surrounding a drift. The evaluation examines accumulation of Uranium minerals (sddyite), Plutonium oxide (Pu2O), and combinations of these materials. A hypothetical model of the tuff is used to provide insight into the factors that affect criticality for this near-field scenario. The factors examined include: the size of the accumulation, the fissile composition of the accumulation, the water of clayey material in the accumulation and the water fraction in the tuff.

NEI Integrated Used Nuclear Fuel Management Strategy

The nuclear energy industry is committed to legislative reform to create a sustainable, integrated program for federal government management of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) high-level radioactive waste and commercial used nuclear fuel.

Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Waste Package Misload Analysis

The purpose of this calculation is to estimate the probability of misloading a commercial spent nuclear fuel waste package with a fuel assembly(s) that has a reactivity (i.e., enrichment and/or burnup) outside the waste package design. The waste package designs are based on the expected commercial spent nuclear fuel assemblies and previous analyses (Macheret, P. 2001, Section 4.1 and Table 1). For this calculation, a misloaded waste package is defined as a waste package that has a fuel assembly(s) loaded into it with an enrichment and/or burnup outside the waste package

Transportation Planning and Execution: Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel

There have been roughly 2,600 shipments of commercial spent fuel in this country over the past three decades or so. Although this is not an enormous volume by European standards, it is nevertheless significant. These shipments fall into two general categories: individual and "campaign." There have been a number of individual shipments where lead test assembly fuel was shipped from a reactor to a laboratory for examination. This is an important part of reactor fuel development.

Screening Analysis of Criticality Features, Events, and Processes for License Application

This analysis documents the screening analysis for postclosure criticality features, events, and processes (FEPs). It addresses the probability of criticality events resulting from degradation processes as well as disruptive events (i.e., seismic, igneous, and rockfall). Probability evaluations are performed utilizing the configuration generator model described in Configuration Generator Model for In-Package Criticality1, a component of the methodology from Disposal

The Potential of Using Commercial Dual Purpose Canisters for Direct Disposal

This report evaluates the potential for directly disposing of licensed commercial Dual Purpose Canisters (DPCs) inside waste package overpacks without reopening. The evaluation considers the principal features of the DPC designs that have been licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as these relate to thedesigns of waste packages and as they relate to disposability in a repository in unsaturated volcanic tuff. Where DPC features appear to compromise future disposability in an unsaturated tuff (e.g., Yucca Mountain) repository

Bias Determination for DOE Nuclear Fuels

The purpose of this calculation is to establish the relative change in the effective neutron multiplication factor (k-eff) due to the use of MCNP unique identifiers used in the paper, Nuclear Criticality Calculations for Canister-Based Facilities - DOE SNF, that are different from the MCNP unique identifiers used in the paper, Analysis of Critical Benchmark Experiments and Critical Limit Calculation for DOE SNF.

ANS Position Statement: Creation of an Independent Entity to Manage U.S. Used Nuclear Fuel

It is increasingly apparent that the United States will require a large expansion of nuclear power generation capacity to meet its future baseload electricity needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, Congress and the Administration must act to update U.S. nuclear fuel cycle policy to address these realities. This will likely require a multifaceted approach involving some combination of on-site/centralized dry cask interim storage, nuclear fuel recycling, and emplacement of high-level wastes in long-term geological storage.

Criticality Safety and Shielding Evaluations of the Codisposal Canister in the Five-Pack DHLW Waste Package

The objective of this analysis is to characterize a codisposal canister containing MIT or ORR fuel in the Five-Pack Defense High-Level Waste (5-DHLW) Waste Package (WP) to demonstrate concept viability related to use in the Mined Geologic Disposal System (MGDS) environment for the postclosure time frame. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the disposal criticality and shielding issues for the DHLW WP and establish DHLW WP and codisposal canister compatibility with the MGDS, and to provide criticality and shielding evaluations for the preliminary DHLW WP design.

Transportation of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: Proposed Rail Inspection Program to Promote Reciprocity

With the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent submittal of a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the development of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a national nuclear waste repository moves one step closer to reality. An operating site at Yucca Mountain could receive between 38-106 rail shipments and 53-89 truck shipments annually over a period of 50 years.

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 in 12 and 21 pressurized water reactor waste packages 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 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 Ref. 7.4.

Probability of a PWR Uncanistered Fuel Waste Package Postclosure Criticality

The purpose of this calculation is to estimate the probability of criticality in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) uncanistered fuel waste package during the postclosure phase of the repository as a function of various waste package material, loading, and environmental parameters. Parameterization on the upper subcritical limit that is used to define the threshold for criticality will also be performed. The possibility of waste package misload due to human or equipment error during preclosure is also considered in estimating the postclosure criticality probability.

NEI Response and Comments on Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013 Draft

The Nuclear Energy Institute, on behalf of the nuclear energy industry, is pleased to provide comments on the discussion draft of the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013 and the associated documents that were released on April 25.