STANDARDIZED DOE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL CANISTER AND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR SHIPMENT TO THE NATIONAL REPOSITOR

In accordance with the provisions of a Memorandum of Agreement between DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), the NSNFP has been tasked with the responsibility to devise, design, and develop, as necessary standardized canisters and an optimized transportation system for shipping the standardized canisters or bare SNF. This presentation describes the standardized canisters and the transportation system that is being developed for the safe handing, storage, and transportation of DOE SNF to the national repository. The standardized canister sizes were derived from the national repository waste package design for co-disposal of SNF with high-level waste (HLW). One SNF canister can be placed in the center of the waste package or one can be placed in one of five radial positions, replacing a HLW canister. The internal cavity of the transportation cask was derived using the same logic, matching the size of the internal cavity of the waste package. The size of the internal cavity for the transportation cask allows the shipment of multiple canister configurations with the application of a removable basket design. The standardized canisters have been designed to be loaded with DOE SNF, placed into interim storage, shipped to the national repository, and placed in a waste package without having to be reopened. Significant testing has been completed that clearly demonstrates that the standardized canisters can safely achieve their intended design goals. The transportation cask system will include all of the standard design features, with the addition of dual containment for the shipment of failed fuel. The transportation cask system will also meet the rigorous licensing requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to ensure that the design and the methods of fabrication employed will result in a shipping cask that will safely contain the radioactive materials under all credible accident scenarios. The standardization of the SNF canisters and the versatile design of the transportation cask system will eliminate a proliferation of designs and simplify the operations at the user sites and the national repository.