This report is a condensed version of previous reports identifying technical gaps that, if addressed, could be used to ensure the continued safe storage of SNF for extended periods and support licensing activities. This report includes updated gap priority assessments because the previous gap priorities were based on R&D performed through 2017. Much important work has been done since 2017 that requires a change in a few of the priority rankings to better focus the near-term R&D program. Background material, regulatory positions, operational and inventory status, and prioritization schemes are discussed in detail in Hanson et al. (2012) and Hanson and Alsaed (2019) and are not repeated in this report. One exception is an overview of the prioritization criteria for reference. This is meant to give the reader an appreciation of the framework for prioritization of the identified gaps. A complete discussion of the prioritization scheme is provided in Hanson and Alsaed (2019).
The EPRI/DOE High-Burnup Confirmatory Data Project (herein called the “Demo”) is a multi-year, multi-entity test with the purpose of providing quantitative and qualitative data to show if high-burnup fuel mechanical properties change in dry storage over a ten-year period. The Demo involves obtaining 32 assemblies of high-burnup PWR fuel of common cladding alloys from the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant, loading them in an NRC-licensed TN-32B cask, drying them according to standard plant procedures, and then storing them on the North Anna dry storage pad for ten years. After the ten-year storage time, the cask will be opened and the mechanical properties of the rods will be tested and analyzed.
The EPRI/DOE High Burnup Confirmatory Data Project (herein called the "Demo") is a multi-year, multi-entity confirmation demonstration test with the purpose of providing quantitative and qualitative data to show how high-burnup fuel ages in dry storage over a ten-year period. The Demo involves obtaining 32 assemblies of high-burnup PWR fuel of four common cladding alloys from the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant, drying them according to standard plant procedures, and then storing them in an NRC-licensed TN-3 2B cask on the North Anna dry storage pad for ten years. After the ten-year storage time, the cask will be opened and the rods will be examined for signs of aging. Twenty-five rods from assemblies of similar claddings, in-reactor placement, and burnup histories (herein called "sister rods") have been shipped from the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant and are currently being nondestructively tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After the non-destructive testing has been completed for each of the twenty-five rods, destructive analysis will be performed at ORNL, PNNL, and ANL to obtain mechanical data. Opinions gathered from the expert interviews, ORNL and PNNL Sister Rod Test Plans, and numerous meetings has resulted in the Simplified Test Plan described in this document. Some of the opinions and discussions leading to the simplified test plan are included here. Detailed descriptions and background are in the ORNL and PNNL plans in the appendices . After the testing described in this simplified test plan h as been completed , the community will review all the collected data and determine if additional testing is needed.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting research and development (R&D) activities within the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign to support the implementation of the DOE's 2013 Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste. R&D activities focus on storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles and are ongoing at nine national laboratories. Additional relevant R&D is conducted at multiple universities through the DOE's Nuclear Energy University Program. Within the storage and transportation areas, R&D continues to focus on technical gaps related to extended storage and subsequent transportation of UNF. Primary emphasis for FY15 is on experimental and analysis activities that support the DOE s dry cask demonstration confirmatory data project initiated at the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia by the Electric Power Research Institute in collaboration with AREVA and Dominion Power. Within the disposal research area, current planning calls for a significant increase in R&D associated with evaluating the feasibility of deep borehole disposal of some waste forms, in addition to a continued emphasis on confirming the viability of generic mined disposal concepts in multiple geologic media. International collaborations that allow the U.S. program to benefit from experience and opportunities for research in other nations remain a high priority.
This Update to the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign Implementation Plan provides summary level detail describing how the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) supports achievement of the overarching mission and objectives of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Fuel Cycle Technologies Program, building on work completed in this area since 2009. This implementation plan begins with the assumption of target dates that are set out in the January 2013 DOE Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste (http://energy.gov/downloads/strategy-management-and-disposal-used-nuclearfuel- and-high-level-radioactive-waste). These target dates and goals are summarized in section III. This implementation plan will be maintained as a living document and will be updated as needed in response to available funding and progress in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign and the Fuel Cycle Technologies Program.
The safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste is an important aspect of the waste management system of the United States. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) currently certifies spent nuclear fuel rail cask designs based primarily on numerical modeling of hypothetical accident conditions augmented with some small scale testing. However, NRC initiated a Package Performance Study (PPS) in 2001 to examine the response of full-scale rail casks in extreme transportation accidents. The objectives of PPS were to demonstrate the safety of transportation casks and to provide high-fidelity data for validating the modeling. Although work on the PPS eventually stopped, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recommended in 2012 that the test plans be re-examined. This recommendation was in recognition of substantial public feedback calling for a full-scale severe accident test of a rail cask to verify evaluations by NRC, which find that risk from the transport of spent fuel in certified casks is extremely low. This report, which serves as the re-assessment, provides a summary of the history of the PPS planning, identifies the objectives and technical issues that drove the scope of the PPS, and presents a possible path for moving forward in planning to conduct a full-scale cask test. Because full-scale testing is expensive, the value of such testing on public perceptions and public acceptance is important. Consequently, the path forward starts with a public perception component followed by two additional components: accident simulation and first responder training. The proposed path forward presents a series of study options with several points where the package performance study could be redirected if warranted.
The safe management and disposition of used nuclear fuel and/or high level nuclear waste is a fundamental aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle. The United States currently utilizes a once-through fuel cycle where used nuclear fuel is stored on-site in either wet pools or in dry storage systems with ultimate disposal in a deep mined geologic repository envisioned. However, a decision not to use the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository will result in longer interim storage at reactor sites than previously planned. In addition, alternatives to the once-through fuel cycle are being considered and a variety of options are being explored under the U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Technologies Program. These two factors lead to the need to develop a credible strategy for managing radioactive wastes from any future nuclear fuel cycle in order to provide acceptable disposition pathways for all wastes regardless of transmutation system technology, fuel reprocessing scheme(s), and/or the selected fuel cycle. These disposition paths will involve both the storing of radioactive material for some period of time and the ultimate disposal of radioactive waste. To address the challenges associated with waste management, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy established the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign in the summer of 2009. The mission of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign is to identify alternatives and conduct scientific research and technology development to enable storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles. The near-and long-term objectives of the Fuel Cycle Technologies Program and its ' Used Fuel Disposition Campaign are presented.
Transportation for each step of a closed fuel cycle is analyzed in consideration of the availability of appropriate transportation infrastructure. The United States has both experience and certified casks for transportation that may be required by this cycle, except for the transport of fresh and used MOX fuel and fresh and used Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR) fuel. Packaging that had been used for other fuel with somewhat similar characteristics may be appropriate for these fuels, but would be inefficient. Therefore, the required neutron and gamma shielding, heat dissipation, and criticality were calculated for MOX and ABR fresh and spent fuel. Criticality would not be an issue, but the packaging design would need to balance neutron shielding and regulatory heat dissipation requirements.
This multinational test program is quantifying the aerosol particulates produced when a high energy density device (HEDD) impacts surrogate material and actual spent fuel test rodlets. The experimental work, performed in four consecutive test phases, has been in progress for several years. The overall program provides needed data that are relevant to some sabotage scenarios in relation to spent fuel transport and storage casks, and associated risk assessments. This program also provides significant political benefits in international cooperation for nuclear security related evaluations. The spent fuel sabotage--aerosol test program is coordinated with the international Working Group for Sabotage Concerns of Transport and Storage Casks (WGSTSC), and supported by both the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This report summarizes the preliminary, Phase 1 work performed in 2001 and 2002 at Sandia National Laboratories and the Fraunhofer Institute, Germany, and documents the experimental results obtained, observations, and preliminary interpretations. Phase 1 testing included: performance quantifications of the HEDD devices; characterization of the HEDD or conical shaped charge (CSC) jet properties with multiple tests; refinement of the aerosol particle collection apparatus being used; and, CSC jet-aerosol tests using leaded glass plates and glass pellets, serving as representative brittle materials. Phase 1 testing was quite important for the design and performance of the following Phase 2 test program and test apparatus.
This multinational, multi-phase spent fuel sabotage test program is quantifying the aerosol particles produced when the products of a high energy density device (HEDD) interact with and explosively particulate test rodlets that contain pellets of either surrogate materials or actual spent fuel. This program has been underway for several years. This program provides data that are relevant to some sabotage scenarios in relation to spent fuel transport and storage casks, and associated risk assessments. The program also provides significant technical and political benefits in international cooperation. We are quantifying the Spent Fuel Ratio (SFR), the ratio of the aerosol particles released from HEDD-impacted actual spent fuel to the aerosol particles produced from surrogate materials, measured under closely matched test conditions, in a contained test chamber. In addition, we are measuring the amounts, nuclide content, size distribution of the released aerosol materials, and enhanced sorption of volatile fission product nuclides onto specific aerosol particle size fractions. These data are the input for follow-on modeling studies to quantify respirable hazards, associated radiological risk assessments, vulnerability assessments, and potential cask physical protection design modifications. This document includes an updated description of the test program and test components for all work and plans made, or revised, during FY 2004. It also serves as a program status report as of the end of FY 2004. All available test results, observations, and aerosol analyses plus interpretations--primarily for surrogate material Phase 2 tests, series 2/5A through 2/9B, using cerium oxide sintered ceramic pellets are included. Advanced plans and progress are described for upcoming tests with unirradiated, depleted uranium oxide and actual spent fuel test rodlets. This spent fuel sabotage--aerosol test program is coordinated with the international Working Group for Sabotage Concerns of Transport and Storage Casks (WGSTSC) and supported by both the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The authors provide a detailed overview of an on-going, multinational test program that is developing aerosol data for some spent fuel sabotage scenarios on spent fuel transport and storage casks. Experiments are being performed to quantify the aerosolized materials plus volatilized fission products generated from actual spent fuel and surrogate material test rods, due to impact by a high-energy-density device. The program participants in the United States plus Germany, France and the United Kingdom, part of the international Working Group for Sabotage Concerns of Transport and Storage Casks (WGSTSC) have strongly supported and coordinated this research program. Sandia National Laboratories has the lead role for conducting this research program; test program support is provided by both the US Department of Energy and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The authors provide a summary of the overall, multiphase test design and a description of all explosive containment and aerosol collection test components used. They focus on the recently initiated tests on 'surrogate' spent fuel, unirradiated depleted uranium oxide and forthcoming actual spent fuel tests, and briefly summarize similar results from completed surrogate tests that used non-radioactive, sintered cerium oxide ceramic pellets in test rods.
A multinational test program is in progress to quantify the aerosol particulates produced when a high energy density device, HEDD, impacts surrogate material and actual spent fuel test rodlets. This program provides needed data that are relevant to some sabotage scenarios in relation to spent fuel transport and storage casks, and associated risk assessments; the program also provides significant political benefits in international cooperation. We are quantifying the spent fuel ratio, SFR, the ratio of the aerosol particles released from HEDD-impacted actual spent fuel to the aerosol particles produced from surrogate materials, measured under closely matched test conditions. In addition, we are measuring the amounts, nuclide content, size distribution of the released aerosol materials, and enhanced sorption of volatile fission product nuclides onto specific aerosol particle size fractions. These data are crucial for predicting radiological impacts. This document includes a thorough description of the test program, including the current, detailed test plan, concept and design, plus a description of all test components, and requirements for future components and related nuclear facility needs. It also serves as a program status report as of the end of FY 2003. All available test results, observations, and analyses - primarily for surrogate material Phase 2 tests using cerium oxide sintered ceramic pellets are included. This spent fuel sabotage - aerosol test program is coordinated with the international Working Group for Sabotage Concerns of Transport and Storage Casks, WGSTSC, and supported by both the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A multi-attribute utility analysis is applied to a decision process to select a treatment method for the management of aluminum-based spent nuclear fuel (Al-SNF) owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). DOE will receive, treat, and temporarily store Al-SNF, most of which is composed of highly enriched uranium, at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina. DOE intends ultimately to send the treated Al-SNF to a geologic repository for permanent disposal. DOE initially considered ten treatment alternatives for the management of Al-SNF, and has narrowed the choice to two of these: the direct disposal and melt and dilute alternatives. The decision analysis presented in this document focuses on a formal decision process used to evaluate these two remaining alternatives.