Overview of the spent nuclear fuel project at Hanford
- Dept. of Energy, Richland, WA (United States). Richland Operations Office
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
The Spent Nuclear Fuel Project`s mission at Hanford is to {open_quotes}Provide safe, economic and environmentally sound management of Hanford spent nuclear fuel in a manner which stages it to final disposition.{close_quotes} The inventory of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at the Hanford Site covers a wide variety of fuel types (production reactor to space reactor) in many facilities (reactor fuel basins to hot cells) at locations all over the Site. The 2,129 metric tons of Hanford SNF represents about 80% of the total US Department of Energy (DOE) inventory. About 98.5% of the Hanford SNF is 2,100 metric tons of metallic uranium production reactor fuel currently stored in the 1950s vintage K Basins in the 100 Area. This fuel has been slowly corroding, generating sludge and contaminating the basin water. This condition, coupled with aging facilities with seismic vulnerabilities, has been identified by several groups, including stakeholders, as being one of the most urgent safety and environmental concerns at the Hanford Site. As a direct result of these concerns, the Spent Nuclear Fuel Project was recently formed to address spent fuel issues at Hanford. The Project has developed the K Basins Path Forward to remove fuel from the basins and place it in dry interim storage. Alternatives that addressed the requirements were developed and analyzed. The result is a two-phased approach allowing the early removal of fuel from the K Basins followed by its stabilization and interim storage consistent with the national program.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-87RL10930
- OSTI ID:
- 10123046
- Report Number(s):
- WHC-SA-2628; CONF-950216-51; ON: DE95007777; TRN: 95:002638
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste management `95,Tucson, AZ (United States),26 Feb - 2 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hanford`s progress toward dry interim storage of K basin`s spent fuel
EFFECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE STRATEGY FOR THE CLEANUP OF K BASINS AT HANFORD SITE WASHINGTON