Analyses of the transportation of spent research reactor fuel in the United States

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6162003

Cashwell, J. W.; Neuhauser, K. S.

We analyzed the impacts of transportation of research reactor spent fuel from US and foreign reactors for the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Defense Programs. Two separate shipment programs were analyzed. The shipment of research reactor spent fuel from Taiwan to the US (Fuel Movement Program), and the return of research reactor spent fuels of US origin from foreign and domestic reactors (Research Reactor Fuel Return Program). To perform these analyses, a comprehensive methodology for analyzing the probabilities and consequences of transportation in coastal waters and port facilities, handling at the port, and shipment by truck to reprocessing facilities was developed. The Taiwanese fuel consists of low-burnup aluminum-clad metallic uranium research reactor spent fuel; the other fuels are primarily aluminum-clad oxide fuels. The Fuel Movement Program is ongoing, while the Fuel Return Program addresses future shipments over a ten-year period. The operational aspects of the Taiwanese shipments have been uniform, but several possible shipping configurations are possible for the Fuel Return Program shipments. The risks of transporting spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive materials by all modes have been analyzed extensively. Comprehensive assessments, which bound the impacts of spent fuel transport, demonstrate that when shipments are made in compliance with applicable regulations, the risks for all such transport are low. For comparison with previously licensed transport activities and to provide continuity with earlier analyses, the results for shipment of 150-day-old commercial pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel are presented as part of this study.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6162003
• Report Number(s): SAND-89-0983C; CONF-890631-44; ON: DE89013561
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
053000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
42 ENGINEERING
420204* -- Engineering-- Shipping Containers
ACCIDENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVALUATION
FUELS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LAND TRANSPORT
MARITIME TRANSPORT
MATERIALS
MATERIALS HANDLING
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR MATERIALS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SPENT FUELS
TRANSPORT
USA
WASTES