Final environmental statement: US Spent Fuel Policy. Storage of foreign spent power reactor fuel

Technical Report · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5498077· OSTI ID:5498077

In October 1977, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a Spent Fuel Storage Policy for nuclear power reactors. Under this policy, as approved by the President, US utilities will be given the opportunity to deliver spent fuel to US Government custody in exchange for payment of a fee. The US Government will also be prepared to accept a limited amount of spent fuel from foreign sources when such action would contribute to meeting nonproliferation goals. Under the new policy, spent fuel transferred to the US Government will be delivered - at user expense - to a US Government-approved site. Foreign spent fuel would be stored in Interim Spent Fuel Storage (ISFS) facilities with domestic fuel. This volume of the environmental impact statement includes effects associated with implementing or not implementing the Spent Fuel Storage Policy for the foreign fuels. The analyses show that there are no substantial radiological health impacts whether the policy is implemented or not. In no case considered does the population dose commitment exceed 0.000006% of the world population dose commitment from natural radiation sources over the period analyzed. Full implementation of the US offer to accept a limited amount of foreign spent fuel for storage provides the greatest benefits for US nonproliferation policy. Acceptance of lesser quantities of foreign spent fuel in the US or less US support of foreign spent fuel storage abroad provides some nonproliferation benefits, but at a significantly lower level than full implementation of the offer. Not implementing the policy in regard to foreign spent fuel will be least productive in the context of US nonproliferation objectives. The remainder of the summary provides a brief description of the options that are evaluated, the facilities involved in these options, and the environmental impacts, including nonproliferation considerations, associated with each option.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Washington, DC (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• OSTI ID: 5498077
• Report Number(s): DOE/EIS-0015(Vol.3)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
DATA
DATA FORMS
DIAGRAMS
DOCUMENT TYPES
DOSE COMMITMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FUELS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
GRAPHS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
IMPLEMENTATION
IMPORTS
INFORMATION
LAND USE
MAMMALS
MAN
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PRIMATES
PROLIFERATION
RADIOACTIVITY
REACTOR MATERIALS
SAFEGUARDS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
SPENT FUELS
TABLES
TRANSPORT
VERTEBRATES
VOLUME