US DOE Progress on Implementing US National Academy of Sciences Recommendations for Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation

In 2006, the National Research Council of the United States’ National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued the report, Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States (NAS, 2006). The foremost finding of the report was that there were “no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States.” However, it made a number of recommendations to improve safety, communicate risk, and conduct planning and other activites in anticipation of a large-scale transport campaign for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC), formed by the Secretary of Energy at the request of the President to conduct a comprehensive review of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommend a new plan, concluded that with respect to transportation issues, the NAS recommendations that had not yet been implemented should be revisited and addressed as appropriate. This paper discusses the NAS recommendations and the current status regarding their implementation,with a focus on actions being taken by DOE.