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Spent fuel storage and transport cask decontamination and modification

This publication is a compilation of international experience with cask contamination problems
and decontamination practices. The objective is to represent current knowledge and experience as well
as developments, trends and potential for new applications in this field. Furthermore, the report may
assist in new design or modification of existing casks, cask handling systems and decontamination
equipment. The annexes contain figures of several cask types for illustration.

Nuclear Waste Management: Key Attributes, Challenges, and Costs for the Yucca Mountain Repository and Potential Alternatives

The Yucca Mountain repository is designed to provide a permanent solution for managing nuclear waste, minimize the uncertainty of future waste safety, and enable DOE to begin fulfilling its legal obligation under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to take custody of commercial waste, which began in 1998. However, project delays have led to utility lawsuits that DOE estimates are costing taxpayers about $12.3 billion in damages through 2020 and could cost $500 million per year after 2020, though the outcome of pending litigation may affect the government’s total liability.

Storage and Transport Cask Data for Used Commercial Nuclear Fuel 2013 U.S. Edition

This document is a compilation of publically-available information on spent/used nuclear fuel storage and transport casks in use in the United States as of the summer of 2013. As such, it is a functional update and extension of JAI-582, “Shipping and Storage Cask Data For Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel,” originally published by JAI Corporation in March 2005[1]. This report is intended to provide a convenient reference for those with interest in, or those engaged in the production, handling, storage, transport, and disposition of spent/used commercial nuclear fuel.

Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation Planning Project Inventory Basis

This report provides information on the inventory of commercial spent nuclear fuel, referred to herein as used nuclear fuel (UNF), as well as Government-owned UNF and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Actual or estimated quantitative values for current inventories are provided along with inventory forecasts derived from examining a different future commercial nuclear power generation scenarios. The report also includes select information on the characteristics associated with the wastes examined (e.g. type, packaging, heat generation rate, decay curves).

The Likelihood of Criticality Following Disposal of SF/HLW/HEU/Pu

The Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) is responsible for implementing geological disposal of the UK’s higher-activity radioactive wastes. RWMD’s research into geological disposal considers safety during waste transport to a disposal facility, during waste disposal operations, and once the facility has been closed. The wastes for disposal comprise a wide range of materials and include some fissile radionuclides.

An Updated Perspective on the US Nuclear Fuel Cycle

There has been a resurgence of interest in the possibility of processing the US spent nuclear fuel, instead of burying it in a geologic repository. Accordingly, key topical findings from three relevant EPRI evaluations made in the 1990-1995 timeframe are recapped and updated to accommodate a few developments over the subsequent ten years. Views recently expressed by other US entities are discussed.

Criticality Risks During Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel

This report presents a best-estimate probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to quantify the frequency of criticality accidents during railroad transportation of spent nuclear fuel casks. The assessment is of sufficient detail to enable full scrutiny of the model logic and the basis for each quantitative parameter contributing to criticality accident scenario frequencies. The report takes into account the results of a 2007 peer review of the initial version of this probabilistic risk assessment, which was published as EPRI Technical Report 1013449 in December 2006.

Evaluation of a Spent Fuel Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

In June 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the construction of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The license application was accepted for formal NRC review in September 2008. Throughout the more than 20-year history of the Yucca Mountain project, EPRI has performed independent assessments of key technical and scientific issues to facilitate an understanding of overall repository performance.

Program on Technology Innovation: Advanced Fuel Cycles - Impact on High-Level Waste Disposal

This report presents the results of a dynamic simulation analysis for deployment of advanced light water reactors (LWRs) and fast burner reactors, as proposed by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program. Conditions for the analysis were selected for their potential to challenge the nuclear fuel simulation codes that were used, due to the large variations in nuclear fuel composition for the burner reactors before equilibrium conditions are approached. The analysis was performed in a U.S.

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