Review of Technical Studies in the United States in Support of Burnup Credit Regulatory Guidance

Conference · Wed Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:982402

Wagner, John C. ^[1]; Parks, Cecil V. ^[1]; Mueller, Don ^[1]; Gauld, Ian C. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Taking credit for the reduction in reactivity associated with fuel depletion can enable more cost-effective, higher-density storage, transport, disposal, and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) while maintaining sufficient subcritical margin to establish an adequate safety basis. Consequently, there continues to be considerable interest in the United States (U.S.), as well as internationally, in the increased use of burnup credit in SNF operations, particularly related to storage, transport, and disposal of commercial SNF. This interest has motivated numerous technical studies related to the application of burnup credit, both domestically and internationally, as well as the design of SNF storage, transport and disposal systems that rely on burnup credit for maintaining subcriticality. Responding to industry requests and needs, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated a burnup credit research program in 1999, with support from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), to develop regulatory guidance and the supporting technical bases for allowing and expanding the use of burnup credit in pressurized-water reactor SNF storage and transport applications. Although this NRC research program has not been continuous since its inception, considerable progress has been achieved in many key areas in terms of increased understanding of relevant phenomena and issues, availability of relevant information and data, and subsequently updated regulatory guidance for expanded use of burnup credit. This paper reviews technical studies performed by ORNL for the U.S. NRC burnup credit research program. Examples of topics include reactivity effects associated with reactor operating characteristics, fuel assembly characteristics, burnable absorbers, control rods, spatial burnup distributions, cooling time, and assembly misloading; methods and data for validation of isotopic composition predictions; methods and data for validation of criticality calculations; and operational issues and data related to assembly burnup confirmation. The objective of this paper is to summarize the work and significant accomplishments, with references to the technical reports and publications for complete details and provide a useful resource to others in the burnup credit community.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 982402
• Resource Relation: Conference: IAEA/CSN International Workshop on Advances in Application of Burnup Credit for Spent Fuel Storage, Transport, Reprocessing, and Disposition, Cordoba (Spain), 27-30 Oct 2009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
AVAILABILITY
BURNUP
CONTROL ELEMENTS
COOLING TIME
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
NUCLEAR FUELS
ORNL
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REPROCESSING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SAFETY
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
STORAGE
TRANSPORT
VALIDATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Fuel Depletion Reactivity Depletion
Transport
Disposal
Reprocessing
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF)
Burnup Credit
Technical Studies Review
Operating Characteristics Reactor Effects
Fuel Assembly Characteristics
Burnable Absorbers
Control Rods
Spatial Burnup Distributions
Cooling Time
Assembly Misloading
Methods and Validation of Isotopic Composition Predictions
Methods and Data for Validation of Criticality Calculations
Operational Issues
Assembly Burnup Confirmation Data