Spent Nuclear Fuel Dual-Purpose Canisters

the United States has generated over 70,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel to produce electricity keeping our air conditioning running and charging our smartphones much of the spent nuclear fuel which is in the form of uranium Di oxide pellets in metal rods is currently stored at reactor sites in canisters that are designed and licensed to store and transport spent nuclear fuel but not to dispose of it these are referred to as Dual Purpose canisters Sandia is researching the possibility of direct disposal of these canisters as well as adding filler materials to limit water access to the spent fuel after disposal the department of energy has asked Sandia to to lead Research into the feasibility of disposing spent nuclear fuel in dual-purpose canisters without repackaging the spent nuclear fuel sandia's research will contribute to a better understanding of the challenges associated with safely and securely disposing of spent nuclear fuel in Dual Purpose canisters should the decision be made to do that Sandia leads a multi-laboratory team in researching if and how these large and heavy dual-purpose canisters could be placed in different types of geologies that could potentially be used to host a future repository Sandy is conducting experiments and running computer models to see how the heat generated by the spent nuclear fuel would affect different rock types and how dual-purpose canisters interact with these different rock types One Way Sandia is doing this is experimenting to find ways to fill canisters that already contain spent nuclear fuel with either cement or metal to prevent criticality in a deep geologic repository nuclear criticality may be less likely in some rock types and geologic systems therefore we are developing and running models to better understand the consequences of building a repository in different geologies Sandia has 40 years of experience researching the interactions between spent nuclear fuel its containers and different host geologies and environments we have the expertise software and modeling tools to simulate long-term performance in deep geological repository systems we are leveraging our utilization and experience with the p flow training code as well as the whip facility to continually improve spent fuel management through continued research development and utilization Sandia continues to be at the Forefront of understanding du purpose canisters in relation to using them to dispose of spent nuclear fuel in deep geologic repositories with this understanding we continue to provide the information needed to make informed decisions regarding disposal of spent nuclear fuel in deep geologic [Music] repositories

Channel: Sandia National Labs

Views: 1,587

Keywords: Sandia National Laboratories

Id: bOti_bOzWro

Length: 3min 23sec (203 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024