Status of Spent Fuel Storage Expansion at Prairie Island

The Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant contains two 560 MWe, two-loop Westinghouse designed PWRs. These two units have been in commercial operation since 1973 and 1974. The current spent fuel storage capacity will be exhausted in the 1994-1995 time frame. In 1987 Prairie Island performed a demonstration of rod consolidation technology in the spent fuel pool. The demonstration included waste classification and empty cage volume reduction. The results of this demonstration and Prairie Islands future plans for spent fuel storage expansion are discussed.