L.H. Goldmann

Bio: L.H. Goldmann is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Nuclear decommissioning & Spent nuclear fuel. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 1 citations.

Transitioning metallic uranium spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage

Abstract: Approximately 80% (by weight) of the U.S. Department of Energy’s inventory of spent nuclear fuel is currently stored in two water-filled concrete basins a few hundred meters from the banks of the Columbia River, at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. The fuel is Zircaloy-clad metallic uranium, discharged from the N-Reactor in 1990 and earlier. Some of this fuel was damaged when discharged from the reactor and has subsequently corroded during its years of wet storage. The radioactive fission products released to the basins by corrosion pose a threat to the Columbia River ecosystem. The basins were never intended for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel; they were built more than 50 years ago, do not meet modern seismic standards, and are well beyond their design life. Stakeholder and regulator concerns have prompted DOE to assign a high priority to moving the spent fuel out of the K Basins and away from the river Since late 1994, DOE and its contractors have been engaged in a project to move the spent N Reactor fuel into interim dry storage at a new facility under construction at the Hanford Site, about 15km from the river. This paper presents an overview of the process to be used in transitioning the damaged ‐ and chemically reactive ‐ metallic uranium spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage. It addresses some of the more difficult technical challenges associated with the process, and how the project is dealing with those challenges.