Technical issues for possible dry storage of DOE owned spent nuclear fuels

Criteria for interim dry storage of DOE owned spent nuclear fuels will be based on a combination of technical, regulatory, and political requirements. These requirements have not been fully established but will include issues such as the necessity for monitoring the fuel, retrievability of the fuel, maintenance of final disposal options, siting of interim disposal facilities (will the fuels at each site remain on that site throughout the interim disposal period?), and interfacing with the International Atomic Energy Agency over inspectability of the highly enriched fuels in the inventory. Regardless of the other requirement issues, the technical storage criteria are likely to vary with fuel type and will include: (a) a fuel specific maximum storage temperature coupled to; (b) a specific storage environment (for example, Helium gas with less than xx ppm moisture); (c) a mass limit for fissionable isotopes; and (d) provisions for prestorage characterization and, if necessary, segregation of the fuel based on the established condition of the fuel. Each of these criteria has several associated technical issues and there are significant interactions among the criteria. This white paper summarizes many of the technical issues which must be resolved in order to develop functional and design specification for the interim dry storage for DOE owned spent nuclear fuels