Case Study for the Coordination of Multiple Transports of Irradiated Fuel from Finland to Sweden and Belgium as well as Final Disposal Following Post-Irradiation Examination

Studsvik has sent three shipments of irradiated fuel on behalf of its customers (TVO, POSIVA, FORTUM): two shipments from Finnish power reactors to the Studsvik Hotcell laboratories in Sweden and thereafter a third containing fuel samples prepared at Studsvik to the SCK•CEN Hotcell Laboratories in Belgium for post-irradiation examinations. The fuel - BWR UO2 rods from Olkiluoto 1 - and - VVER UO2 rods from Loviisa 1/2 - were transported with the NCS-45 Type-B(U)F owned by Studsvik from each plant to Studsvik in two separate transports in 2017 and 2018. Part of the Olkiluoto fuel rods were cut into samples at Studsvik and reconditioned to be accommodated into the Transnubel TNB-170 Type-B(U) transport cask for further transport to SCK•CEN. This transnational operation required a cold trial for handling the NCS 45 at Olkiluoto and Loviisa before fuel loading, and a technical walk-through for using the TNB-170 in the Studsvik HCL as it was their first use in those facilities. In addition to this technical challenge, Studsvik, in partnership with consigner, consignee, and carriers, coordinated the various applications for transport, safeguards, physical protection and material final disposal approvals, as well as cask validation when necessary. A primary challenge when moving irradiated fuel from one country to another is waste management after examinations and tests. Studsvik has obtained a final disposal permit for a yearly maximum quantity of imported foreign fuel and material which can be disposed of in Sweden provided that the material is imported for research purposes and minimized as much as possible to suffice for the tests to be performed. Waste management of the fuel samples transported from Studsvik to SCK•CEN also needed to be specified in the transport permits applied for by Studsvik to the Swedish authority. Import approval was granted by the Belgian authority to SCK•CEN to dispose of the fuel residues after tests as the latter were destructive and the quantity of the former, small. The fuel residues after tests at Studsvik have been approved to be transported to the Swedish interim facility storage for irradiated fuel (Clab), ready for final disposal.