Used fuel andrew sowder - epri

Andrew Sowder, Keith Waldrop, John Kessler
Nuclear Energy Insider – 2nd Annual Used Fuel Strategy Conference
Charlotte, NC
November 22, 2013
Full-Scale, High-Burnup Extended Storage
Confirmatory Demonstration Project
(the “Demo”)

2© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contents
• Applicability
• History
– Low burnup demos (~1985-1993)
– Draft Interim Staff Guidance #24
• EPRI 2013 deliverables (technical gap review, Test Plan)
• Five-year schedule

Near-Universal Applicability to LWRs
• Primary goal of the demo: collect long-term data on behavior of
high burnup (>45 GWd/MTU) LWR fuel in dry storage
– Regulatory concerns about: long-term behavior in storage;
behavior during transportation
(normal → accident conditions)
• Most LWR operators have (or will have) high burnup LWR fuel
needing dry storage and/or transportation
• Most LWR operators face (or will face) long-term dry storage of
high burnup LWR fuel
– Limited use of reprocessing
– ZERO countries with geologic disposal
• Needed with or without reprocessing

Original US Demo: Low Burnup Cladding (1984-
2002)
• CASTOR V/21 (one
of five low BU
demos)
• Surry fuel up to 35
GWd/MTU
• Demo initiated in
1984
– [EPRI, 1985: Report
No. NP-4887]
• Re-opened after 14
years
– [EPRI, 2002: Report
No. 1002882]
• Demo conducted at DOE
TAN facility

CASTOR V/21 Low BU Demo Final Results: No
Evidence of Degradation After 14 Years
• No radiation or
temperature ‘hot spots’
• No leakers
• No visual evidence of O-
ring degradation
• All assemblies came out
easily
• No visual evidence of
additional
assembly/cladding
degradation or bowing
• No visual evidence of
additional internal basket
degradation
• Little to no detachment of
crud
• Still significant ductility
Thermal Creep of Surry Cladding
(fast fluence: 6.9 x 1021
n/cm2
, E>1 MeV)
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3.0
3.2
3.4
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Time (h)
HoopStrain(%)
Nominal Test Conditions
Temperature: 400°C
Hoop Stress: 190/250 MPa
Midwall
OD Stress increased
from 190 to 250 MPa
OD Strain
0.079% @ 48 h
0.136% @ 120 h
0.209% @ 240 h
0.266% @ 360 h
0.351% @ 552 h
0.494% @ 912 h
0.656% @1248 h
0.729% @1489 h
0.920% @1873 h
1.588% @2041 h
2.056% @2162 h
2.918% @2330 h

NRC Concern: High BU Cladding Loss of
Ductility During Extended Storage
(followed by transportation)
Used fuel cladding cross-section
showing hydride embrittlement
US: Prairie Island, Calvert Cliffs RAIs
Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Temperature

Gap: Full Scale High Burnup Demonstration
• Repeat earlier low BU demo using high BU fuel
• Will high BU cladding become so brittle it cannot be
moved?
• Desire for assembly retrievability
• Need for data for high BU license extensions:
– Now: Prairie Island; Calvert Cliffs
– Mid to late 2020’s: several more in the US
– NRC wants “industry commitment” to high BU R&D

NRC’s Draft ISG-24 (issued July 3, 2013)
• ISG-24: “The Use of a Demonstration Program as Confirmation of
Integrity for Continued Storage of High Burnup Fuel Beyond 20 Years”
• Primary NRC concern: high burnup fuel (after ~20 years of storage)
may be too brittle to prevent:
– Storage: gross ruptures, ready retrievability
– [Subsequent transportation: cladding damage – even under normal
conditions of transport (transportation not mentioned in draft ISG-24)]
• Desired goals of a high burnup demo:
– Confirm expected fuel conditions
– Provide benchmarking data for updated aging management plans
(AMPs)
– Justify bases for time-limited aging analyses (TLAAs)
– Identify aging effects that might have been missed
• NEI, others provided comments
• ISG-24 not yet finalized

Draft ISG-24: The Technical Details
• Demo should be on the order of 10 years or longer
• Won’t apply if AMPs/TLAAs are used for burnups
>4GWd/MTU higher than fuel in the demo
– Therefore, demo should include the highest possible burnup levels
• Show cladding temperatures in the demo are bounding
– Therefore peak cladding temperatures should be close to 400°C
• Monitor continuously for: moisture, hydrogen, oxygen,
fission gas, fuel cladding axial temperature
• Physical exams of fuel “at periodic intervals”
• Use at least two full fuel assemblies
– Allows for “small-scale” tests – if prototypic

Extended Storage Aging Management Plans:
Required Technical Bases
Confidence in understanding longer-term
behavior of dry storage system requires
• Model development and benchmarking data
• “Separate effects testing”
• Confirmatory testing under “prototypic” conditions
– Full scale
– Representative dry storage conditions
• Drying process and inerting
• Thermal evolution
• Geometry
– Multiple high BU fuel types
DOE,othersEPRITeam(withDOEco-funding)

EPRI-led Team to Conduct Demonstration
• Willing host: North Anna
– Multiple, high burnup fuel
types already on site
– Site-specific license
• TN-32 cask already
available
– Dominion Virginia Power
uses them already
• Multiple phone
calls/meetings with DOE-NE
to obtain co-funding

EPRI Project Team
• AREVA Federal Services
– Transnuclear: cask designer and current cask owner
– Dominion: host utility, licensing and operational lead
• Backup: Xcel Energy
– AREVA NP: design and supply thermocouple lances
– AREVA Fuels: pull AREVA fuel sister rods
• Westinghouse Fuels: pull Westinghouse sister rods
• Sister rods shipper to national lab: TBD
[EPRI will also retain a professional project manager.]
Federal Services
Transnuclear
Fuels
NP

Industry Review Team (IRT)
• EPRI Project Team +
• Utilties: Xcel, Constellation, Dominion, Duke, Entergy, Exelon, TVA
• Other Stakeholders: NEI
• Vendors: Holtec, NAC
• Charter: “ensure that project objectives are met and remain consistent
with industry needs”

DOE Action in 2013
• January 3: DOE issues Request for Proposal
– Five-year contract
– Minimum 20% industry contribution
• March 5: EPRI supplies a proposal
– Five-year total cost: $19.8 million (EPRI portion: $3.96 million)
• April 16: DOE accepts EPRI proposal and signs contract
• Draft Test Plan currently out for public comment
• DOE approximate funding profile:
– 2013: $1 million
– 2014: $2.5 million
– 2015: $7.5 million (major procurement year)
– 2016: ~$3 million
– 2017: $1 million
– 2018: ~$1 million

DOE-EPRI: 2013 Actions and Deliverables
• Task 1: DOE-EPRI Team kick-off meeting: May 9
• Task 2: Evaluate existing gap analysis reports
– Evaluation sent to DOE May 17
• Task 3: Draft 5-year test plan: sent to DOE August 19
– DOE/EPRI Team/IRT review of Draft: September 4-5
– EPRI Team modifies Draft Test Plan: ~September 12
– DOE issues Draft Test Plan for public comment: November 12
– Public comment period closes: December 12
– DOE/EPRI Team/IRT address public comments: January
2014
• Task 4: Final Test Plan completed (January 2014)
• Task 5: Execute Test Plan (2014 – 2018+)

High Burnup Demo Schedule: 2014 – 2015
2014:
• Complete the design of the modified lid for
bolted TN-32 cask, including:
– Thermocouple penetrations
– Gas sampling capability
• Initiate preparation of the storage Design
Basis Licensing Document (DBLD)
2015:
• Extract sister high burnup rods (for t0
baseline)
• Begin modifications to the cask lid; perform
fit-ups
• Complete the DBLD to accompany the
storage license application to NRC
• Submit the storage license application to the
NRC; address RAIs

High Burnup Demo Schedule: 2016
• Ship sister rods to national lab(s)
for non-destructive and destructive
examination, including:
– Profilometry
– Cladding properties (hydrogen
content and initial orientation,
mechanical, internal gas content)
• Ship the modified TN-32 cask and
lid to North Anna
• Continue interaction with NRC on
the storage license application
• Initiate preparation of the DBLD to
accompany a future transportation
license application

High Burnup Demo Schedule:
2017 through 2018+
2017:
•Obtain storage license from NRC (tentative, pending NRC review)
•Perform dry runs
•Load the Demonstration Cask and begin temperature and gas data
collection during the drying process
2018:
•Complete preparation of the safety analysis report to accompany a future
transportation license application
2018 to the end of the storage period (outside scope of DOE-EPRI contract):
•Continue taking periodic temperature measurements
•Submit and obtain transportation Certificate of Compliance (CoC) from NRC
(tentative, pending NRC review)

End of the Storage Period (and beyond current
project scope):
• Move the Demonstration Cask from pad back to the North Anna Power
Station
• Prepare the Cask for transport to an off-site Fuel Examination Facility
• Ship the cask to a Fuel Examination Facility (to be provided by DOE)
• Open the cask and visually examine the fuel
– Extract high burnup rods for subsequent examination
– Conduct non-destructive and destructive examinations of the rods at the
national lab(s)
• Same exams as “t=0” exams
• Compare end-of-storage and “t=0” fuel properties
• Option: re-close Demo cask and continue storage; re-open again later

Demo Design: Primary Technical Issues
• Fuel selection issues:
– Highest possible burnups
• ISG-24: TLAAs only applicable for fuel with burnups no greater
than 4 GWd/MTU above fuel in the Demo (“bounding”)
– Target peak cladding temperature: very close to 400°C
• ISG-24: Demo should be “bounding”
• Requires “best estimate” thermal modeling
• Lid and instrumentation design issues:
– Maintain adequate confinement
– Temperature lance emplacement
– Temperature measurement reliability/longevity

Public Comments Welcome (due 12/12/13)
• “Draft Test Plan for the High Burnup Dry Storage Cask Research and Development
Project” available at:
http://www.id.energy.gov/insideNEID/PublicInvolvement.htm
• Send comments to:
– E-mail: CDP@id.doe.gov or batesmc@id.doe.gov
– Mail: U.S. Department of Energy, Willow Creek Building Ground Floor, Room
185B, 1955 Fremont Ave., Idaho Falls ID, Attn: Melissa Bates
– Fax: 208-526-4652

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