Publications Details
A concept to combine DOE waste minimization goals with commercial utility needs for a universal container system for spent nuclear fuel storage, transportation, and disposal
Two major initiatives are underway in the US that are creating a significant financial impact on both the US taxpayer and on users of electric power. First, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has been tasked with cleaning-up the defense complex. This task is managed under the direction of the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) of the DOE. The waste that EM must address includes radioactive, hazardous, and mixed that consists of both radioactive and hazardous constituents. Second, the DOE is required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to take title to commercial nuclear spent fuel assemblies starting in 1998. The DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) was established to carry out this charter. Since a final repository is not scheduled for opening until 2010 at the earliest, the DOE is planning on providing a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility for centralized storage to bridge the time gap between 1998 and 2010. The NWPA requires that nuclear utilities pay a fee into a specific fund that Congress uses to pay the DOE for the development of the MRS, the transportation system, and the repository. This fund, along with the EM budget, constitutes a multi-billion dollar effort to manage DOE nuclear waste and to store and dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel. These two seemingly unrelated problems have aspects of commonality that can be considered for the benefit of both programs, the US taxpayer, and the utility rate payer. Both programs are the responsibility of the DOE, and both will require engineered packages for storage, transportation, and disposal of the EM waste and commercial spent fuel. Rather than using specialized systems for each step (storage, transport, and disposal), a concept for a Universal Container System has been developed that could potentially simplify the overall waste management system, reduce expensive handling operations, and reduce total system cost.