Interim Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel

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Interim Storageof Used Nuclear Fuel

• March 2009
• Marshall Cohen
• Senior Director, State and Local Government
  Affairs
• Nuclear Energy Institute
• 202.739.8051
• mc_at_nei.org

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United State Congress FY 2008 Omnibus
Appropriations Bill Report Language

• The Department is directed to develop a plan to
  take custody of spent fuel currently stored at
  decommissioned reactor sites to both reduce costs
  that are ultimately borne by the taxpayer and
  demonstrate that DOE can move forward in the
  near-term with at least some element of nuclear
  waste policy. The Department should consider
  consolidation of the spent fuel from
  decommissioned reactors either at an existing
  federal site, at one or more existing operating
  reactor sites, or at a competitively-selected
  interim storage site. The Department should
  engage the sites that volunteered to host Global
  Nuclear Energy Partnership facilities as part of
  this competitive process.

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Integrated Used Fuel Management

• Three-pronged approach to used fuel management
• Interim storage
• Research, development, and commercial
  demonstration to close the nuclear fuel cycle
• Permanent disposal facility
• Divided into short, medium, and long term goals.
• Given the Yucca Mt. situation, reduce nuclear
  waste fee paid by consumers.

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Used Fuel ManagementWhere We Stand Today

• Yucca Mountain site judged suitable by Congress
  in 2002.
• Worldwide expansion of nuclear energy prompting
  renewed interest in closing the nuclear fuel
  cycle
• Recycling used nuclear fuel
• Advanced used fuel reprocessing technologies
• Developing new type of fuel from reprocessed
  product
• New reactor designs
• Nuclear renaissance will require recycling of
  fuel.
• Long-term timing consistent
• Interim storage until recycling and/or Yucca Mtn.
  alternatives available assures nuclear
  sustainability in a competitive marketplace.

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Used Nuclear Fuel Storage

• Current used fuel inventory
• Approximately 58,000 MTU
• Current dry storage inventory
• 10,500 MTU
• 877 casks/canisters loaded
• At 40 sites
• Future dry storage inventory by 2017
• Estimating 22,300 MTU
• 2,000 casks/canisters loaded
• At 66 sites for 108 plants

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Why Interim Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel?

• Consolidates used fuel at 104 plants into 1 or 2
  allows for easier management and security, lower
  costs.
• Interim storage supports new nuclear plant
  construction, which is in the best interest of
  the US needs for electricity and reduction of
  greenhouse gases.
• Interim storage also permits utilities to
  complete their obligation to local communities
  by fully decommissioning reactor sites at the end
  of their operating lifetime.
• Repository opening further delayed due to
  2009/2010 budgets.

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Artist Rendition of an Away From Reactor
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
(ISFSI)
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ISFSIs with Vertical Storage Casks
Connecticut Yankee
Yankee Rowe
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Horizontal Storage Systems at an ISFSI
Southern California Edison SONGS Units 1, 2,
and 3
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Transportation Safety Record for Used Fuel

• Four decades of safety.
• Over 3,000 shipments in U.S.
• 78 by truck and 22 by rail.
• Transported over 1.7 million miles.
• Over 24,000 shipments internationally.
• More than 73,000 MTHM SNF/HLW transported.
• No injuries, fatalities or environmental damage
  as a result of the radioactive nature of the
  cargo.

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First Priority Fuel That Should Move to an
Interim Storage Facility Decommissioned Plant
Spent Fuel

• Maine
• California
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Illinois

• Colorado
• Oregon
• Wisconsin
• Connecticut

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Organizations of State OfficialsSupportive of
Interim Storage

• National Conference of State Legislatures.
• (Policy adopted April 2008)
• National Association of Regulatory Utility
  Commissioners. (Policy adopted February 2008)
• American Legislative Exchange Council.
• (Policy adopted July 2007)
• The Energy Council.

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Key Elements for Interim Storage

• Volunteer Communities
• Strong Economic Development Package
• NRC Licensed
• Private Ownership/Operation
• Political Support
• Move Decommissioned Plant Fuel First
• Consider Using Nuclear Waste Fund Under
  Appropriate Restrictions
• Involve Major Nuclear Industrial Companies

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Re-Evaluating Nuclear Waste Policy

• First, we recognize that since used nuclear fuel
  can be safely and securely stored for an extended
  period of time, interim storage represents a
  strategic element of an integrated program.
  Therefore, we can continue on-site storage of
  used reactor fuel while candidates are identified
  for volunteer private or government-owned sites
  for consolidation of used nuclear fuel.
• DOE must take title to and consolidate used fuel
  at private or government centralized storage
  facilities to begin meeting the federal
  governments legal commitment. Initially,
  centralized facilities should provide storage for
  reactor fuel from power plants that have been
  shut down. DOE also needs to address its
  obligation for the removal and disposal of
  high-level radioactive waste from government
  sites.

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• Second, the federal government should collaborate
  with the private sector and other countries on a
  research and development and demonstration
  program to recycle reactor fuel in a way that is
  safe, environmentally acceptable, enhances the
  worldwide nonproliferation regime and makes sense
  economically. Other countries are looking at
  recycling as part of their used nuclear fuel
  management program and the United States should
  be constructively engaged in this technology
  development.
• Through recycling, we can reclaim and reuse a
  significant amount of energy that remains in
  uranium fuel and reduce the heat, volume and
  toxicity of radioactive byproducts that
  ultimately will be placed in a repository.

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• Third, even with a closed fuel cycle, a geologic
  repository will be needed for the ultimate
  disposal of the waste byproducts. Licensing of
  the Yucca Mountain repository should continue,
  but the characteristics of the waste form
  requiring disposal will influence the design of
  the repository. The results of an independent
  commissions strategic assessment of the overall
  approach to used fuel and defense waste
  management can provide direction in that regard.