CANISTER CONSIDERATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL

The Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) entered into contracts with spent nuclear fuel (SNF) owners and generators for the disposal of the SNF. These contracts are modeled on the Standard Contract for the Disposal of Spent Fuel Nuclear Fuel and/or High Level Waste (Standard Contract), which was promulgated in 10 CFR 961 and established specific requirements for the SNF. At the time the Standard Contract was established, the widespread use of single and dual purpose casks and canisters was not envisioned; hence, provisions for them were not included in the Standard Contract. In recognition of this growing trend in the industry and the need to establish standards to assure compatibility of the numerous single and dual purpose systems with the various system interfaces, OCRWM has initiated the development of cask and canister acceptance standards in context of the Standard Contract. This paper describes these efforts.