Spent fuel storage in Europe in the 1980s

At the end of 1981 there was some 47,000 MW(e) of installed oxide-fuelled commercial nuclear power capacity in Europe, and by the year 1990 about 122,000 MW(e) of nuclear capacity is scheduled to be in operation. Cumulative spent fuel discharges up to the end of 1990 will amount to some 23,000 tU of which some 10,700 tU is under firm contract for reprocessing. In addition, fuel discharged in France and the United Kingdom will eventually be reprocessed in those countries. To date only about 572 tU of commercial oxide fuel have been reprocessed and reprocessing is only taking place at a modest rate. Large-scale reprocessing will only occur when the UP2-800 and UP3A facilities at La Hague (France), and the Thorp facility at Windscale (UK) enter full operation. These plants will successively enter operation during the 1980s but it is estimated that not more than 6500 tU of oxide fuel will be reprocessed before the end of 1990. The consequence is that substantial capacities for the storage of spent fuel will be needed. The paper examines: (1) the contractual situation for reprocessing for each utility; (2) reactor on-site spent fuel storage capacity and plans; (3) capacities and plans for intermediate or away-from-reactor spent fuel storage facilities; and (4) capacities and plans for spent fuel storage at the major reprocessing plants. The overall conclusion is that adequate storage capacity is either in place, under construction, or firmly planned to accommodate spent fuel discharges in the decade. (author)