RECENT EXPERIENCE IN PLANNING, PACKAGING AND PREPARING NONCOMMERCIAL SPENT FUEL FOR SHIPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

The U.S. Department ofEnergy- Headquarters (DOE-HQ) has issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which identified the plan to be followed in managing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) belonging to the Department. As a result, the aluminum-clad fuels stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, were directed to be shipped to the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. The BMI-1 cask was chosen to make the shipments of SNF from dry storage that had to be placed in canisters. However, the Certificate of Compliance (COC) for the BMI-1 cask limited the fissile material loading to 800 g of unirradiated fissile material for the cask configuration chosen. Because about half of the canisters were already filled and sealed with more fissile material than was permitted by the COC, approval to make these shipments in the BMI-1 was requested from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). A safety analysis showed that the shipments could be made safely under the conditions identified. The waiver was granted in September 1997 and the three shipments were successfully completed in January 1998.