High Level Nuclear Waste presentation The Magic of Spent Fuel by David Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists at the KNOW NUKES Y'ALL SUMMIT on June 30, 2012.

1. The Magic of
Spent Fuel
David Lochbaum
Director, Nuclear Safety Project
June 30, 2012

3. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs
is
REAL MAGIC!

4. When in the reactor core,
irradiated fuel is so
hazardous as to require
highly reliable cooling and
containment systems with
highly reliable backups.
When in a
repository, irradiated
fuel is so hazardous
as to require
In-between, irradiated fuel is so benign it isolation for the next
can be crowded in a pool cooled by a 10,000 years.
single non-safety system without backups.

6. The non-safety-related,
non-Class 1E spent fuel
pool cooling system is a
non-essential load on the
closed cooling water
system.
Its backup?

10. Nine Mile Point Unit 2 Technical Specifications

11. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water





(except when being moved about)

12. Cooper Technical Specifications

13. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water
 Doesn’t need containment




(except when being moved about)

14. NUREG-1433, Vol. 1, Rev. 3 BWR/4 Improved Technical Specifications

15. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water
 Doesn’t need containment
 Doesn’t need AC power



(except when being moved about)

16. Browns Ferry Unit 1 Technical Specifications (ML052780019)

17. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water
 Doesn’t need containment
 Doesn’t need AC power
 Doesn’t need DC power


(except when being moved about)

18. Browns Ferry Unit 1 Technical Specifications (ML052780019)

19. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water
 Doesn’t need containment
 Doesn’t need AC power
 Doesn’t need DC power
 Doesn’t need control room AC

(except when being moved about)

21. General Design Criterion 44 (GDC 44) in Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 50
Criterion 44—Cooling water. A system to transfer heat
from structures, systems, and components important to
safety, to an ultimate heat sink shall be provided. The
system safety function shall be to transfer the combined
heat load of these structures, systems, and components
under normal operating and accident conditions.
Suitable redundancy in components and features, and
suitable interconnections, leak detection, and isolation
capabilities shall be provided to assure that for onsite
electric power system operation (assuming offsite power
is not available) and for offsite electric power system
operation (assuming onsite power is not available) the
system safety function can be accomplished, assuming a
single failure.

22. 10 CFR Part 50.49, Environmental Qualification of Electrical Equipment
(i) This equipment is that relied upon to remain functional during and
following design basis events to ensure--
(A) The integrity of the reactor coolant pressure boundary;
(B) The capability to shut down the reactor and maintain it in a safe
shutdown condition; or
(C) The capability to prevent or mitigate the consequences of accidents that
could result in potential offsite exposures comparable to the guidelines in §
50.34(a)(1), § 50.67(b)(2), or § 100.11 of this chapter, as applicable.
(ii) Design basis events are defined as conditions of normal operation,
including anticipated operational occurrences, design basis accidents,
external events, and natural phenomena for which the plant must be
designed to ensure functions (b)(1)(i) (A) through (C) of this section.
(2) Nonsafety-related electric equipment whose failure under postulated
environmental conditions could prevent satisfactory accomplishment of
safety functions specified in subparagraphs (b)(1) (i) (A) through (C) of
paragraph (b)(1) of this section by the safety-related equipment.

23. During a reactor accident,
irradiated fuel in BWR
spent fuel pools becomes
invisible – one can still see
the pool, but it magically
empties of irradiated fuel as
far as safety studies of
reactor building cooling
loads for GDC 44 and
environmental
qualifications for 10 CFR
50.49 go. Amazing!

24. Spent Fuel in BWR SFPs:
 Doesn’t need water
 Doesn’t need containment
 Doesn’t need AC power
 Doesn’t need DC power
 Doesn’t need control room AC
 Doesn’t need to affect GDC 44
or 10 CFR 50.49
(except when being moved about)

25. BWR Spent Fuel Science Fiction
Irradiated fuel in spent fuel pools, even
when not being moved, needs:
 to be covered by water
 to be within reliable containment
 to have ac power for its cooling system
 to have dc power for its I&C systems
 to enable control room habitability
 to enable GDC 44 to be met
 to enable 10 CFR 50.49 to be met

26. Far, Far Better Place
to Store Spent Fuel
Five years after discharge from reactor cores, spent fuel
can and should be transferred into dry storage. Slide 26

27. Lessons from Fukushima Dai-Ichi
Hydrogen explosions removed Nearly 400 BWR spent fuel
walls and roofs, allowing water assemblies were in this building,
cannons and helicopters to inundated by the tsunami, but not
provide feed & bleed cooling of requiring explosions and Rube
these BWR spent fuel pools. Goldberg water cooling.
Could the irradiated fuel in the Unit 4 SFP have been cooled w/o the explosions?

29. Spent Fuel Hazard: The Sites
Slide 29

30. Conclusions
Irradiated fuel in BWR spent fuel pools poses
undue hazards.
Safety studies and tech specs must consider
spent fuel pool events other than dropping an
assembly or banging it into something.
The decay heat from BWR spent fuel pools
must be considered in GDC 44 and 10 CFR
50.49 calculations.
As soon as possible after 5 years’ decay,
irradiated fuel must be moved to dry storage.
Slide 30