Analyses of the Transportation of Spent Research Reactor Fuel in the United States*

The Transportation Technology Center at Sandia National Laboratories has analyzed the impacts of transportation of research reactor spent fuel from U.S. and foreign reactors for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Defense Programs. This effort represents the first comprehensive analytical evaluation of the risks of transporting high-, medium-, and low-enriched uranium spent research reactor fuel by both sea and land. Two separate shipment programs have been analyzed (USDOE, 1986; USDOE, 1988): the shipment of research reactor spent fuel from Taiwan to the U.S. (Fuel Movement Program), and the return of research reactor spent fuels of U.S. origin from foreign and domestic reactors (Research Reactor Fuel Return Program). In order to perform these analyses, a comprehensive methodology for analyzing the probabilities and consequences of transportation in coastal waters and port facilities, handling at the port, and shipment by truck to reprocessing facilities was developed. The Taiwanese fuel consists of low-burn up aluminum-clad metallic uranium research reactor spent fuel; the other fuels are primarily aluminum-clad oxide. fuels. The Fuel Movement Program is ongoing, while the Fuel Return Program addresses future shipments over a ten-year penod. The operational aspects of the Taiwanese shipments have been uniform, but several possible shipping configurations are possible for the Fuel Return Program shipments. The risks of transporting spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive materials by all modes have been analyzed extensively. Comprehensive assessments, which bound the impacts of spent fuel transport, demonstrate that when shipments are made in compliance w1th applicable regulations, the risks for all such transport are low (USNRC, 1977; USNRC, 1980; USDOE, 1980). For comparison with previously licensed transport activities and to provide continuity with earlier analyses, the results for shipment of 150-day-old commercial pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel are presented as part of this study.