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Book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign International Activities Implementation Plan

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign International Activities Implementation Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The management of used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste is required for any country using nuclear energy. This includes the storage, transportation, and disposal of low and intermediate level waste (LILW), used nuclear fuel (UNF), and high level waste (HLW). The Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC), within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Office of Fuel Cycle Technology (FCT), is responsible for conducting research and development pertaining to the management of these materials in the U.S. Cooperation and collaboration with other countries would be beneficial to both the U.S. and other countries through information exchange and a broader participation of experts in the field. U.S. participation in international UNF and HLW exchanges leads to safe management of nuclear materials, increased security through global oversight, and protection of the environment worldwide. Such interactions offer the opportunity to develop consensus on policy, scientific, and technical approaches. Dialogue to address common technical issues helps develop an internationally recognized foundation of sound science, benefiting the U.S. and participating countries. The UNF and HLW management programs in nuclear countries are at different levels of maturity. All countries utilizing nuclear power must store UNF, mostly in wet storage, and HLW for those countries that reprocess UNF. Several countries either utilize or plan to utilize dry storage systems for UNF, perhaps for long periods of time (several decades). Geologic disposal programs are at various different states, ranging from essentially 'no progress' to selected sites and pending license applications to regulators. The table below summarizes the status of UNF and HLW management programs in several countriesa. Thus, the opportunity exists to collaborate at different levels ranging from providing expertise to those countries 'behind' the U.S. to obtaining access to information and expertise from those countries with more mature programs. The U.S. fuel cycle is a once through fuel cycle involving the direct disposal of UNF, as spent nuclear fuel, in a geologic repository (previously identified at Yucca Mountain, Nevada), following at most a few decades of storage (wet and dry). The geology at Yucca Mountain, unsaturated tuff, is unique among all countries investigating the disposal of UNF and HLW. The decision by the U.S. Department of Energy to no longer pursue the disposal of UNF at Yucca Mountain and possibly utilize very long term storage (approaching 100 years or more) while evaluating future fuel cycle alternatives for managing UNF, presents a different UNF and HLW management R & D portfolio that has been pursued in the U.S. In addition, the research and development activities managed by OCRWM have been transferred to DOE-NE. This requires a reconsideration of how the UFDC will engage in cooperative and collaborative activities with other countries. This report presents the UFDC implementation plan for international activities. The DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) has cooperated and collaborated with other countries in many different 'arenas' including the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and through bilateral agreements with other countries. These international activities benefited OCRWM through the acquisition and exchange of information, database development, and peer reviews by experts from other countries. DOE-NE cooperates and collaborates with other countries in similar 'arenas' with similar objectives and realizing similar benefits. However the DOE-NE focus has not typically been in the area of UNF and HLW management. This report will first summarize these recent cooperative and collaborative activities. The manner that the UFDC will cooperate and collaborate in the future is expected to change as R & D is conducted regarding long-term storage and the potential disposal of UNF and HLW in different geologic environments. While some continuation of on-going or recent cooperative and collaborative activities are expected to continue, the approach taken in these activities may be different than past activities given the changes in the U.S. waste management program. In addition, new cooperative and collaborative activities with different scope than in the past may be undertaken. Such potential future cooperative and collaborative activities will be discussed. The last part of the plan includes the implementation of the UFDC international activities.

Book Update of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign Implementation Plan

Download or read book Update of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign Implementation Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Campaign Implementation Plan provides summary level detail describing how the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) supports achievement of the overarching mission and objectives of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Fuel Cycle Technologies Program The implementation plan begins with the assumption of target dates that are set out in the January 2013 DOE Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste (http://energy.gov/downloads/strategy-management-and-disposal-used-nuclear-fuel-and-high-level-radioactive-waste). These target dates and goals are summarized in section III. This implementation plan will be maintained as a living document and will be updated as needed in response to progress in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign and the Fuel Cycle Technologies Program.

Book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign UFDC Generic Disposal System Analysis GDSA

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign UFDC Generic Disposal System Analysis GDSA written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Update of the Used Fuel Dispositon Campaign Implementation Plan

Download or read book Update of the Used Fuel Dispositon Campaign Implementation Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Used Fuel Disposition Research and Development Roadmap FY10 Status

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition Research and Development Roadmap FY10 Status written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1987 the U.S. has focused research and development activities relevant to the disposal of commercial used nuclear fuel and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owned spent nuclear fuel and high level waste on the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. At the same time, the U.S. successfully deployed a deep geologic disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste in bedded salt at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In 2009 the DOE established the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) within the Office of Nuclear Energy. The Mission of the UFDC is to identify alternatives and conduct scientific research and technology development to enable storage, transportation and disposal of used nuclear fuel and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles. The U.S. national laboratories have participated on these programs and has conducted research and development related to these issues to a limited extent. However, a comprehensive research and development (R & D) program investigating a variety of geologic media has not been a part of the U.S. waste management program since the mid 1980s. Such a comprehensive R & D program is being developed in the UFDC with a goal of meeting the UFDC Grand Challenge to provide a sound technical basis for absolute confidence in the safety and security of long-term storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel and wastes from the nuclear energy enterprise. The DOE has decided to no longer pursue the development of a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Since a repository site will ultimately have to be selected, sited, characterized, designed, and licensed, other disposal options must now be considered. In addition to the unsaturated volcanic tuff evaluated at Yucca Mountain, several different geologic media are under investigation internationally and preliminary assessments indicate that disposal of used nuclear fuel and high level waste in these media is feasible. Considerable progress has been made in the U.S. and other nations in understanding disposal concepts in different geologic media, but gaps in knowledge still exist. A principal aspect of concern to the UFDC as it considers the broad issues of siting a repository in different geologic media are the marked differences in the regulatory bases for assessing suitability and safety of a repository between the U.S. and other nations. Because the probability based - risked informed nature of the current U.S. regulations for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is sufficiently different from other regulations, information gained in previous studies, while useful, likely need to be supplemented to enable more convincing communication with the public, better defense of the numerical models, and stronger safety cases. Thus, it was recognized when the UFDC was established that there were readily identified disposal-related R & D opportunities to address knowledge gaps. An effort to document these research opportunities was a key component of Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 engineered system, natural system, and system-level modeling activities for a range of disposal environments. A principal contribution to identifying these gaps was a workshop held to gather perspectives from experts both within and external to the UFDC regarding R & D opportunities. In the planning for FY2010 it was expected that these activities would culminate with a UFDC research and development roadmap that would identify the knowledge gaps, discuss the R & D needed to fill these gaps, and prioritize the proposed R & D over both the near- and long-term. A number of knowledge gaps and needed R & D were identified and are discussed in this report. However, these preliminary R & D topics have not been evaluated in detail nor have they been prioritized to support future planning efforts. This will be completed in FY11 and the final UFDC Research and Development Roadmap will be completed. This report discusses proposed R & D topics in three areas related to repository siting, design, and performance: natural systems, engineered systems, and overall disposal system. The intent of this report is to consolidate the proposed R & D topics to support subsequent discussions among UFDC and external expertise to identify additional R & D needs and to prioritize these needs, leading to the development for the UFDC Research and Development Roadmap.

Book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign DOE EM Liaison Discussion

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition Campaign DOE EM Liaison Discussion written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Disposal R D in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign

Download or read book Disposal R D in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For DOE's Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC), international collaboration is a beneficial and cost-effective strategy for advancing disposal science with regards to multiple disposal options and different geologic environments. While the United States disposal program focused solely on Yucca Mountain tuff as host rock over the past decades, several international programs have made significant progress in the characterization and performance evaluation of other geologic repository options, most of which are very different from the Yucca Mountain site in design and host rock characteristics. Because Yucca Mountain was so unique (e.g., no backfill, unsaturated densely fractured tuff), areas of direct collaboration with international disposal programs were quite limited during that time. The decision by the U.S. Department of Energy to no longer pursue the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel at Yucca Mountain has shifted UFDC's interest to disposal options and geologic environments similar to those being investigated by disposal programs in other nations. Much can be gained by close collaboration with these programs, including access to valuable experience and data collected over recent decades. Such collaboration can help to efficiently achieve UFDC's long-term goals of conducting 'experiments to fill data needs and confirm advanced modeling approaches' (by 2015) and of having a 'robust modeling and experimental basis for evaluation of multiple disposal system options' (by 2020). This report discusses selected opportunities of active international collaboration, with focus on both Natural Barrier System (NBS) and Engineered Barrier System (EBS) aspects and those opportunities that provide access to field data (and respective interpretation/modeling) or allow participation in ongoing field experiments. This discussion serves as a basis for the DOE/NE-53 and UFDC planning process for FY12 and beyond.

Book Used Fuel Disposition in Crystalline Rocks

Download or read book Used Fuel Disposition in Crystalline Rocks written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Fuel Cycle Technology established the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) in fiscal year 2010 (FY10) to conduct the research and development (R&D) activities related to storage, transportation and disposal of used nuclear fuel and high level nuclear waste. The objective of the Crystalline Disposal R&D Work Package is to advance our understanding of long-term disposal of used fuel in crystalline rocks and to develop necessary experimental and computational capabilities to evaluate various disposal concepts in such media.

Book Strategy for Used Fuel Acquisition

Download or read book Strategy for Used Fuel Acquisition written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE), Office of Fuel Cycle Technology, has established the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) to conduct the research and development activities related to storage, transportation, and disposal of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The mission of the UFDC is to identify alternatives and conduct scientific research and technology development to enable storage, transportation and disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and wastes generated by existing and future nuclear fuel cycles. The Storage and Transportation staffs within the UFDC are responsible for addressing issues regarding the extended or long-term storage of UNF and its subsequent transportation. The near-term objectives of the Storage and Transportation task are to use a science-based approach to develop the technical bases to support the continued safe and secure storage of UNF for extended periods, subsequent retrieval, and transportation. While both wet and dry storage have been shown to be safe options for storing UNF, the focus of the program is on dry storage at reactor or centralized locations. Because limited information is available on the properties of high burnup fuel (exceeding 45 gigawatt-days per metric tonne of uranium [GWd/MTU]), and because much of the fuel currently discharged from today's reactors exceeds this burnup threshold, a particular emphasis of this program is on high burnup fuels. Since high burnup used fuels have only been loaded into dry storage systems in the past decade or so, these materials are available to the UFDC for testing in only very limited quantities. Much of what is available has come via NRC testing programs. Some of these fuels may have achieved "high burnup," but that does not mean they were designed for high burnup use (e.g. lower enrichments, smaller plenum spaces, extra reactor cycles). The handling and transfer of these materials from utility to laboratory has not always been prototypical of how used nuclear fuel is prepared for dry storage; these fuels are not subjected to the same vacuum drying conditions that can lead to changes in hydride morphology that will affect the mechanical properties of the fuel. It is recognized that sources of used high burnup fuel that can be handled in a manner consistent with how fuel is readied for dry storage is essential to the mission of the UFDC. This report documents what types of fuel are of interest to the campaign, and how those fuels could be acquired and shipped to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for incorporation into the campaign R & D mission. It also identifies any gaps in INL capabilities that might preclude working with one fuel type or another.

Book Performance Modeling Activities in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign

Download or read book Performance Modeling Activities in the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: