Spent Nuclear Fuel Exploratory Roadmaps - 20054
- Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management (United States)
- Battelle Energy Alliance LLC (United States)
- Savannah River National Laboratory (United States)
The U.S. Department of Energy manages nearly 2,500 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM) of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) resulting from several decades of research, testing, and production reactors [DOE 1995]. This SNF is managed at the DOE Hanford Site in Washington State (Hanford), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and Savannah River Site in South Carolina (SRS). From 1995 to 2004, the Department of Energy (DOE) made several key programmatic decisions, supported by appropriate documentation in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the management of SNF [DOE 1995]. These decisions have provided an overarching framework for SNF management, as well as site-specific and SNF-related management decisions for the past two decades. In the years since these decisions were made, with the notable exception of the successful drying and packaging of the production reactor fuel at Hanford, a majority of the decisions have been largely unimplemented. Also, since these decisions were made, a number of changes that bear on considerations relative to the path forward have occurred. A SNF Exploratory Road map activity, identified reasonable alternate pathways for DoE's inventory of SNF. Three fundamental pathways were identified in this activity for the long-term management and disposition of DOE SNF: Direct Disposal Pathway, Existing Processing Pathway and Alternate Processing Pathway. Further actions would be required (e.g., evaluation of NEPA analysis, technology maturity evaluations, refinement of cost and risks, benefits and advantages relative to other alternate paths) to define and inform many key decisions that will result in the selection of the disposition pathways that are most beneficial to the US Government in dispositioning DoE's SNF inventory. DOE is currently managing all SNF safely; however, the age of DOE-owned SNF and facilities for storing and processing SNF, coupled with the uncertainty of the storage duration, necessitates decisions and actions to ensure that the infrastructure will be in place to ensure continued safe and effective long-term management and eventual disposal. The identification of reasonable alternate pathways took these considerations into account in an effort to proactively manage conditions that could challenge the safety of storing and managing DOE SNF over the time periods now contemplated and also to ensure that flexibility is preserved to ensure that the DOE SNF remains compatible with final disposition pathways when they become available. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23030346
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-21-WM-20054; TRN: US21V1662070698
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2020: 46. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 8-12 Mar 2020; Other Information: Country of input: France; 14 refs.; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2020/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Aluminum Clad SNF: Technical Considerations and Challenges for Extended (>50 years) Dry Storage - 1900y
Spent nuclear fuels project: FY 1995 multi-year program plan, WBS {number_sign}1.4
Related Subjects
DOCUMENTATION
DRYING
FLEXIBILITY
IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
PACKAGING
PRODUCTION REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SPENT FUELS
TESTING
US NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT