Publications

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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. © 2012 Materials Research Society.

Various circumstances around the world have resulted in the potential need to store used nuclear fuel longer than times allowed by the regulations. While current storage of used fuel is safe and is likely to remain safe for extended periods of time, material degradation issues may arise that have not necessarily been considered when used fuel storage was licensed for relatively short periods of time. Material degradation issues associated with the fuel, cask internals, storage overpack, closure seals and bolts, and the storage pad all need to be assessed relative to long term performance. Key functional requirements for this long term performance include subcriticality, containment, shielding, thermal performance, and retrievability. A sufficient degree of understanding of the material degradation issues relative to the functional requirements for storage is necessary to develop the technical basis to ensure material performance over extended periods of time. An important initial step in addressing material degradation issues is to identify technical data gaps relative to existing understanding that are important over long storage periods. An effort has been under way since June 2010 to develop a list and prioritization of technical gaps from an international perspective. This effort is being conducted under the aegis of the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Extended Storage Collaboration Program (ESCP). As part of this program, an International Subcommittee has been established to solicit the international community's input on storage system material degradation issues associated with long term storage and transportation. The first goal of this subcommittee is to develop a report on the technical data gaps from an international perspective. Since used fuel is stored in various configurations around the world, it is expected that different priorities will be identified relative to importance in maintaining the key performance functions. The second goal of the subcommittee is to identify areas for international collaboration for research on degradation issues in order to leverage existing program and facilities. The current status of the international data gap effort is a draft list of High, Medium, and Low priority issues that should be addressed to demonstrate sufficient understanding of material performance of storage system components over extended operational periods. Although there are differences in the identified gaps and associated priorities due to different regulations and storage and transportation systems, there are also areas of commonalities that are important to recognize. These are the areas that have the greatest potential for collaboration.

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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.

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