Essential components to sustainable spent fuel management: dry storage and transportation - 5303

AREVA has developed several interim dry storage solutions worldwide for used nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste. Up to now more than 1,000 dry storage systems designed by AREVA have been loaded, representing a significant track record. The first TN 24 product, a metallic dual purpose cask, was loaded in the US in 1984 for tests the first commercial loading was subsequently executed in 1988. For Belgium, the first cask was the TN 24 D which was loaded in 1994. Japan started the storage of spent fuel at Fukushima-Daiichi in 1995 using a cask jointly designed and manufactured by AREVA TN and Kobe Steel. In the same period, the first NUHOMS storage system, a canister loaded in a horizontal concrete module, was loaded in 1989 in the US. Interim storage for used nuclear fuel is a reliable intermediate solution while waiting for a decision concerning disposal sites or recycling. Interim storage is safe as shown by important industrial feedback and the operational records. Nevertheless, interim storage is, by definition, only an intermediate solution for used fuel management that involves in any case on-site and offsite transportation before and after the storage period of the used fuel. AREVA has also a vast experience in the national and international transportation of used nuclear fuel or high level waste: up to 250 transports per year of used fuel assemblies are performed in Europe and in the world, mainly for recycling in the AREVA La Hague Reprocessing Plant, and also for interim storage, depending upon the used fuel management choice made by the customers