Wet storage in the USA: Recent experience and directions

Wet storage has been the only licensed option for spent fuel management for U.S. commercial power reactor operators, except for a period of commercial reprocessing at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility, 1965-71. Developments are underway to bring dry storage to licensed status in the U.S. by mid-1986. However, wet storage will remain the predominant storage method, at least beyond the turn of the century. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 establishes current U.S. policy regarding responsibilities for spent fuel management. The Nuclear Waste Confidence Rulemaking proceedings address the viability of extended wet storage for U.S. reactors. U.S. utilities have moved aggressively to implement optimized utilization of wet storage technology, assisted in some areas by federal programs. This paper summarizes U.S. policy and regulatory aspects of wet storage and the status of several wet storage technology developments, including: dense racking; double tiering; credit for burnup in rack designs; transshipment; impacts of extended burnup; rod consolidation and pool decommissioning. (author)