Evaluation of burnup credit for dry storage casks

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:5836504

Wakeman, B H; Ahmed, S A

In 1986 Virginia Power began storing spent LWR fuel in a metal cask Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at its Surry Power Station. The first casks used were CASTOR V/21 storage casks supplied by General Nuclear Systems, Inc., which are designed for storage of 21 spent fuel assemblies. Like other casks, their basket is designed to maintain subcriticality even when loaded with fresh fuel assemblies. This imposes a penalty on the number of assemblies that can be loaded into the cask. Taking credit for the depletion of U235 and the buildup of fissile plutonium and non-gaseous fission products in criticality analysis is referred to as ''burnup credit''. In this report, the use of burnup credit for criticality control in dry storage casks is examined for several fuel types and basket and cask body materials. Several casks are analyzed for criticality, structural, shielding and thermal adequacy. Operations in spent fuel fuel pools and the controls needed to ensure proper loading of storage cask are examined. The application of burnup credit to pool storage is also addressed. The regulatory requirements for storage pools and storage casks are reviewed and the economic benefits are presented. 14 refs., 25 figs., 24 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Virginia Electric and Power Co., Richmond, VA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5836504
• Report Number(s): EPRI-NP-6494
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BORON
BURNUP
CASKS
COMPUTER CODES
CONTAINERS
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL POOLS
FUELS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
K CODES
LICENSING
MATERIALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
O CODES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
S CODES
SEMIMETALS
SPECIFICATIONS
SPENT FUEL CASKS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE
URANIUM 235
URANIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES