Signatures of Extended Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel in Casks
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
As the amount of used nuclear fuel continues to grow, more and more used nuclear fuel will be transferred to storage casks. A consolidated storage facility is currently in the planning stages for storing these casks, where at least 10,000 MTHM of fuel will be stored. This site will have potentially thousands of casks once it is operational. A facility this large presents new safeguards and nuclear material accounting concerns. A new signature based on the distribution of neutron sources and multiplication within casks was part of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Material Protection, Account and Control Technologies (MPACT) campaign. Under this project we looked at fingerprinting each cask's neutron signature. Each cask has a unique set of fuel, with a unique spread of initial enrichment, burnup, cooling time, and power history. The unique set of fuel creates a unique signature of neutron intensity based on the arrangement of the assemblies. The unique arrangement of neutron sources and multiplication produces a reliable and unique identification of the cask that has been shown to be relatively constant over long time periods. The work presented here could be used to restore from a loss of continuity of knowledge at the storage site. This presentation will show the steps used to simulate and form this signature from the start of the effort through its conclusion in September 2016.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1329603
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-27416; TRN: US1700384
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
NEUTRON FLUX
SPENT FUEL CASKS
STORAGE FACILITIES
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
ACCOUNTING
PLANNING
SAFEGUARDS
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
Used Nuclear Fuel Storage
Signatures