Assessment of DOE facilities for storage of spent fuel
- Dept. of Energy, Aiken, SC (United States)
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has identified spent nuclear fuel as one of its major problems that must be dealt with in a timely manner. Nuclear materials production reactors, constructed by the DOE during the 1940s and 1950s, utilized highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel that was designed to be reprocessed, not stored. In the 1950s DOE began providing HEU fuel to domestic and foreign research reactors. This fuel was returned to DOE for reprocessing after irradiation until the later 1980s. With the drastic reduction in US nuclear weapons stockpile, there is an abundance of HEU, making reprocessing of spent fuel for the recovery of uranium unnecessary. Therefore, DOE has decided to phase out the reprocessing of spent fuel. However, continued receipt and storage of spent fuel from both domestic and foreign research reactors in necessary. Most DOE spent-fuel storage facilities were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. Very few of these facilities were designed to store fuel for extended periods. Vulnerabilities such as natural-phenomena hazards, leak detection, and water chemistry have been identified.
- OSTI ID:
- 75887
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940602--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 70; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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