Transport of non-conforming spent RBMK fuel from Leningrad NPP to Mayak for reprocessing

The implementation of the pilot project to move sub-standard spent fuel assemblies from Leningrad-2 NPP to Mayak began in 2011. The primary objective of the project was to determine whether it is economically reasonable to process spent RBMK fuel and to confirm that it can in principle be transported and reprocessed. The paper describes the issues of selection of a pilot fuel batch, selection of a cask and the development of package components, the technique of spent fuel assemblies (SFA) cutting and ampoule loading into the TUK-11R-2 package on the Leningrad NPP site and ampoule handling at Mayak. The flow diagram of the TUK-11R-2 package used for shipment of leaky RBMK SFAs is given