Evaluation of Codisposal Viability for Aluminum-Clad DOE-Owned Spent Fuel: Phase II - Degraded Codisposal Waste Package Internal Criticality

Technical Report · Wed Apr 01 23:00:00 EST 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6005· OSTI ID:6005

Swift, W. ^[1]; McClure, John A. ^[2]; Davis, John A. ^[2]; Gottlieb, Peter ^[2]; Cloke, Paul L. ^[2]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
2. TRW Environmental Safety Systems, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (United States)

This report presents the analysis and conclusions with respect to disposal criticality for canisters containing aluminum-based fuels from research reactors. The analysis has been divided into three phases. Phase I dealt with breached and flooded waste packages containing relatively intact canisters and intact internal (basket) structures; Phase II, the subject of this report, covers the degradation of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and structures internal to the codisposal waste package including high level waste (HLW), canisters, and criticality control material. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) uranium aluminide (U-AI) fuel with 93.5% enriched uranium and Oak Ridge Research Reactor (ORR) uranium silicide (U-Si-Al) fuel with 20.56% enriched uranium were selected by the Alternative Technology Program of the Westinghouse Savannah River Company (SRS) as being representative of the high enriched uranium (HEU) and medium enriched uranium (MEU) fuel inventories, respectively. Phase III will consider the possibility of external criticality, which can arise from a flow of water carrying fissile material out of the waste package.

• Research Organization: Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States); TRW Environmental Safety Systems, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500; AC08-91RW00134
• OSTI ID: 6005
• Report Number(s): BBA000000-01717-5705-00017-Rev.-1; ON: DE00006005
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
42 ENGINEERING
Analysis
Criticality
Experiment
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Radioactive Waste Disposal
Reactor
Research
Research Reactors
SRS: Savannah River Site
Safety
Spent Fuel
Spent Fuel Casks
Waste Disposal