A Presentation to theNational Spent Nuclear Fuel Program

April 14, 2009

Spent Fuel Project Status

Dawn GillasFederal Program ManagerNuclear Material Programs DivisionDOE-SR

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Status of Spent Nuclear Fuel(SNF) Operations at SRS

SNF Program Mission General Issues SNF Receipt and Storage Capability Ongoing SNF Operations: FRR and DRR Receipts Summary

Purpose

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SRS SNF Program Mission

Support the United States’ nuclear weapons nonproliferation policy by reducing civil commerce in HEU, since HEU can be used directly in the production of nuclear weapons.

Receive Al-based FRR, DRR, and INL SNF until 2019 Provide safe interim SNF storage through 2019 Deinventory SRS Non-Al to INL by 2019 Deinventory all Al-based SNF inventory through H-Canyon by 2019 Deinventory all target materials and sources by 2020.

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General Issues

Disposition of Al SNF using H-Canyon SRS / INL Exchange Increase in SNF receipts from the Baseline: GAP

and FRR full participation (Canada)– Effect on L-Basin storage capacity– Effect on final disposition

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SRS SNF Receipt Capability

Receive Al-based SNF,

Typical Forms: Material Test Reactor (MTR) HEU or LEU Plates or tubes 3” x 3” x 36” ~12 lbs total weight Fuel core of enriched uranium

150 to 490 grams of U-235 before irradiation

40 to 60% U-235 burn up

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SRS SNF Receipt Capability Continued

Receive Al-based SNF, Atypical Forms: 2 piece High Flux Isotope Reactor Core

– Inner Core - 171 plates• 11.7” OD x 30” L

– Outer Core - 369 plates• 17.2” OD x 31” L

– 300 lbs total weight

1 Slowpoke Core (Toronto)– 297 Pins

• 8.6” OD x 9” L• 0.87 kg HM• 93% Enriched

HFIR OUTER CORE

HFIR INNER CORE

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SRS SNF Cask Receipt Capability

JMS-87Y-18.5TJMS-87Y-18.5T

GNS-16GNS-16

GE-2000GE-2000

JRC-80Y-20TJRC-80Y-20T

TN-7/2TN-7/2

TN-MTRTN-MTR

LWTLWT

JRF-90Y-950KJRF-90Y-950K

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MTR SNF Basin Storage Vertical Tube Storage (VTS)

– Fixed geometry for criticality control

– 4 to 5 MTR assemblies per tube (bundle)

– one tube per storage rack position

– ~11000 MTR currently stored

– 15515 MTR Capacity

SRS SNF Storage Capability

Submerged 3 x 10 and 4 x 10 VTS racks

Loaded tube ready for storage

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SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued

Baseline Plus

Baseline

MTR Capacity without H-Canyon Operations

1551516101

20514

17101

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

22000

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

MT

R S

tora

ge

Cap

acit

y

Current L-Basin MTRE Capacity (VTS, Dry Cave) Baseline Case No INL No Canyon Baseline Case plus Other, Canada and GAP, No INL, No Canyon Baseline Case with GAP No INL No Canyon

Fiscal Year

BASELINE Plus GAP and Canada

BASELINE Plus GAP BASELINE

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High Flux Isotope Reactor Core Basin Storage Racks– Fixed geometry for

criticality control– 2 inner and 2 outer cores

per rack– 60 HFIR Racks– 120 Core storage capacity– 78 Cores currently stored

SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued

2 Outer Core Posts 2 Inner

Core Posts

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SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued

120

207

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2202

00

9

20

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

20

16

20

17

20

18

20

19

20

20

HF

IR C

ore

Cap

acit

y

L-Basin HFIR Storage Capacity HFIR Inventory without Canyon

Fiscal Year

HFIR Core Capacity without Canyon Operations

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Ongoing SNF Operations: FRR ProgramOngoing SNF Operations: FRR Program

Savannah River Site• Aluminum based SNF• FRR receipts through 2019• US arrival via Charleston NWS• Transported to SRS by train or truck

FRRs with Al-Based fuel containing US origin HEU• Agree to convert to LEU fuel• 34 eligible countries • 76 research reactors• 17,803 estimated fuel assemblies

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Savannah River Site

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Oak Ridge National LaboratoryHigh Flux Isotope Reactor

University of Missouri Research Reactor

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ongoing SNF Operations: DRR Program

Idaho National Laboratory

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L-basin installed MTR storage capacity sized for Baseline FRR, DRR, INL Exchange receipts.

L-Basin added HFIR capacity needed L-basin may require added storage capacity for

Baseline plus receipts from GAP and or FRR full participation (Canada).– H-Canyon start date for Al SNF disposition is a key

factor for the decision to install additional L-basin storage capacity.

Summary