Considerations for a national program on spent fuel management

The spent fuel discharged from the two LWR's that are in operation (Zorita, 160 MW PWR, and Santa Maria de Garona, 460 MW BWR) is being reprocessed under contracts with BNFL; these contracts will expire in the next few years. The fuel discharged from Vandelos (50 MW GCR) is being reprocessed by Cogema under a long-term contract. No new reprocessing contracts for LWR's in operation, under construction, or planned have been signed or are being considered for the near future. The plutonium and the residual uranium contained in LWR spent fuel are considered important potential energy resources. They are especially valuable for countries such as Spain, which is short of energy resources, and they might be used in the future in fast breeder or thermal reactors. This is the reason that, until reprocessing is justified and appropriate solutions to make reprocessing available are developed, Spain has decided to build the appropriate capacity for the temporary storage of spent fuel. The capacity is being achieved, on short term, by the extension of AR storage capacity. It is being achieved, at medium or longer term, by the construction of centralized AFR facilities to serve all Spanish nuclear power plants. Spanish utilities are undertaking the expansion of reactor storage capacities, using densified racks, to increment capacity to at least 8 to 10 reloads, in addition to full core discharge capacity. Spain has the time and the financial and technical resources to implement a national solution for spent fuel storage. Financial strategy, technology choice, and licensing considerations are under examination in order to make a decision for medium- and long-term storage alternatives