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Strategies for certifying a burnup credit cask

Journal Article · · JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States)
OSTI ID:5048309
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC (US)
  2. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (US)
  3. Babcock and Wilcox, Lynchburg, VA (US)

A new generation of high capacity spent fuel transport casks is being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the Federal Waste Management System (FWMS). Burnup credit, which recognizes the reduced reactivity of spent fuel is being used for these casks. Both cask designs being developed for DOE burnup credit. The cask designs must be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory commission (NRC) if they are to be used in the FWMS. Certification of these casks by the NRC would not require any change in transport regulations, and would be consistent with past practices. This paper reports that, to support certification, DOE has identified the technical issues related to burnup credit, and embarked on a development program to resolve them. Following a background discussion of criticality safety for spent fuel transport, an approach to design and use of a burnup credit cask is presented. It is concluded that an adequate technical basis is being developed for spent fuel casks to demonstrate compliance with the NRC criticality safety requirements.

OSTI ID:
5048309
Journal Information:
JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States), Journal Name: JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States) Vol. 20:3; ISSN 0893-6188; ISSN JNMME
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English