High Burnup Spent Fuel Dry Storage Research Project

The Department of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute are conducting a large scale, long term, dry storage cask research and development project for HBU spent fuel. Dominion Energy loaded the cask in November 2017 at the North Anna Power Station. Internal temperatures are being recorded at 63 different radial and axial locations. An initial set of gas samples were collected from the cask cavity and analyzed during the first two weeks after loading. Temperature data is planned to be collected over the next 10 years while the cask remains in storage. To complete the project, examinations of the fuel after about 10 years of storage will be performed to determine any effects from the loading and storage operations. To perform these examinations, the cask will need to be shipped to a fuel examination facility with a large hot cell capable of opening the cask and removing the fuel. This transportation effort is the focus of the next phase of the project and this paper. The design for transportation of the high burnup research project cask will be competed including addressing any needed modifications to the cask in its storage condition to prepare for transportation. A transportation license application for the cask will be submitted to NRC. The remaining equipment necessary for transportation will be fabricated, such as impact limiters. The transportation plan will initially be developed in a generic sense and will be finalized once the destination is determined. The demonstration cask will be transported from its storage location to the fuel building at North Anna and prepared for transportation. This will include preparing the lid for transportation, placing the cask on the transport conveyance and installing the impact limiters.