DISPOSAL CRITICALITY ANALYSIS FOR ALUMINUM-BASED DOE FUELS
This paper describes the disposal criticality analysis for canisters containing aluminum-based Department of Energy fuels from research reactors. Different canisters were designed for disposal of high enriched uranium (HEU) and medium enriched uranium (MEU) fuel. In addition to the standard criticality concerns in storage and transportation, such as flooding, the disposal criticality analysis must consider the degradation of the fuel and components within the waste package. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) U-Al fuel with 93.5% enriched uranium and Oak Ridge Research Reactor (ORR) U-Si-Al fuel with 21% enriched uranium are representative of the HEU and MEU fuel inventories, respectively. Conceptual canister designs with 64 MIT assemblies (16/layer, 4 layers) or 40 ORR assemblies (10/layer, 4 layers) were developed for these fuel types. Borated stainless steel plates were incorporated into a stainless steel internal basket structure within a 439 mm OD, 15 mm thick XM-19 canister shell. The Codisposal waste package contains 5 HLW canisters (represented by 5 Defense Waste Processing Facility canisters from the Savannah River site) with the fuel canister placed in the center. Figures 1 and 2 show the waste package after emplacement in the repository.
- Research Organization:
- Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC01-91RW00134
- OSTI ID:
- 776073
- Report Number(s):
- MOL.19980723.0479; TRN: US200717%%369
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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