Fuel consolidation demonstration: Spent-fuel storage area analysis

Fuel consolidation offers a means of substantially increasing the capacity of spent fuel storage pools. Consolidation system equipment design, development, construction, and testing are being performed in Windsor, Connecticut. Seismic and structural evaluation of the capability of the Millstone Unit 2 spent fuel pool and building to accommodate the increased fuel capacity is being conducted. NU plans to obtain a license to store consolidated fuel in the Millstone Unit 2 spent fuel storage pool. NU also plans to perform a hot demonstration of the integrated consolidation system with spent fuel at Millstone Unit 2. This report describes an evaluation of consolidating fuel at Millstone Unit 2 with regard to the exposure of station personnel and the general public, and also with regard to the additional cooling required because of the increase in spent fuel storage capacity. The evaluations showed that consolidation will not pose a health risk either to the operators or to the general public. The existing plant spent fuel cooling system was found to be adequate except in regard to limiting the bulk pool water temperature under certain circumstances during refueling when the pool was approaching being filled to the maximum with consolidated spent fuel. The report describes the administrative controls for dealing with this problem; the incidence of higher than recommended temperatures is expected to be very low. 23 refs., 13 figs