DOE/NRC transportation interface

This presentation covers the interface between on-site spent fuel storage and the eventual receipt and transport of spent fuel to the DOE system. The party responsible for the activity is identified in parentheses. There are two ways of handling spent fuel that has been previously loaded into dry storage. One way would be acceptance of the loaded cask or canister intact by DOE. The other would be for the utility to unload the storage cask and reload the spent fuel into a DOE transport cask. Utilities have been encouraging DOE to avoid this second situation if possible. In either case, there will be some considerations prior to unloading the storage cask or canister whether this operation is done by the utility or by DOE. There are four primary concerns for shipping and handling spent fuel. These should be kept in mind when spent fuel is being qualified for placement in dry storage. Fuel integrity is important to fuel handling - it is important that the fuel remain intact. The decay heat of the spent fuel is important to fuel integrity - overheating can cause cladding degradation and fuel failure. It is important that the spent fuel stored does not go critical while in storage. And finally, the radioactivity of the spent fuel cannot result in excessive dose rates external to the storage cask