Publications

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.

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Regulations in the United States that govern the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in deep geologic repositories require the explicit consideration of hypothetical future human intrusions that disrupt the waste. Specific regulatory requirements regarding the consideration of human intrusion differ in the two sets of regulations currently in effect in the United States; one defined by the Environmental Protection Agency's 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 197, applied only to the formerly proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and the other defined by the Environmental Protection Agencys 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 191, applied to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and potentially applicable to any repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States other than the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. This report reviews the regulatory requirements relevant to human intrusion and the approaches taken by the Department of Energy to demonstrating compliance with those requirements.

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.