Overview of the United States spent nuclear fuel program

As a result of the end of the Cold War, the mission of the US Department of Energy (DOE) has shifted from an emphasis on nuclear weapons development and production to an emphasis on the safe management and disposal of excess nuclear materials including spent nuclear fuel from both production and research reactors. Within the US, there are two groups managing spent nuclear fuel. Commercial nuclear power plants are managing their spent nuclear fuel at the individual reactor sites until the planned repository is opened. All other spent nuclear fuel, including research reactors, university reactors, naval reactors, and legacy material from the Cold War is managed by DOE. DOE`s mission is to safely and efficiently manage its spent nuclear fuel and prepare it for disposal. This mission involves correcting existing vulnerabilities in spent fuel storage; moving spent fuel from wet basins to dry storage; processing at-risk spent fuel; and preparing spent fuel in road-ready condition for repository disposal. Most of DOE`s spent nuclear fuel is stored in underwater basins (wet storage). Many of these basins are outdated, and spent fuel is to be removed and transferred to more modern basins or to new dry storage facilities. In 1995, DOE completed a complex-wide environmental impact analysis that resulted in spent fuel being sent to one of three principal DOE sites for interim storage (up to 40 years) prior to shipment to a repository. This regionalization by fuel type will allow for economies of scale yet minimize unnecessary transportation. This paper discusses the national SNF program, ultimate disposition of SNF, and the technical challenges that have yet to be resolved, namely, release rate testing, non-destructive assay, alternative treatments, drying, and chemical reactivity.