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Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

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4.5 WASTE TRANSPORT<br />

4.63<br />

For the example once-through cycle, the waste transportation <strong>of</strong> concern for this State-<br />

ment is the shipment <strong>of</strong> spent fuel. Other wastes would be non-TRU wastes that are not cov-<br />

ered in this Statement. The spent fuel may be shipped directly from the nuclear power<br />

plants to an encapsulation facility located at the geologic repository site, or it may be<br />

shipped first to an interim storage facility and then to the encapsulation facility.<br />

For the reprocessing cycle, transportation is considered for spent fuel, solidified<br />

high-level waste, and TRU wastes. Spent fuel may be shipped from the reactors either to<br />

interim storage or directly to reprocessing. Reprocessing plant and MOX fabrication plant<br />

waste packages may be shipped directly from the fuel reprocessing plants and from the mixed<br />

oxide fuel fabrication plants to the geologic repository, or they may be shipped first to<br />

an interim storage facility and then to the geologic repository.<br />

The transportation <strong>of</strong> these wastes is discussed briefly in the following sections.<br />

More detail is contained in Section 6 <strong>of</strong> DOE/ET-0028.<br />

4.5.1 Spent Fuel Transport<br />

Spent fuel has been shipped in the United States for many years. Massive, heavily<br />

shielded shipping casks are available for both truck and rail transport <strong>of</strong> spent fuel from<br />

current-generation LWRs. Most spent fuel casks will accept either PWR or BWR spent fuel by<br />

using different fuel baskets; however, some are designed only for a particular fuel type.<br />

Table 4.5.1 gives information about casks that are currently available or licensed for spent<br />

fuel shipments in the U.S. More detailed information is contained in Sections 6.2.1<br />

and 6.2.2 <strong>of</strong> DOE/ET-0028 and in Volume 2, Appendix C <strong>of</strong> DOE/EIS-0015.<br />

TABLE 4.5.1 Available Shipping Casks for Current Generation LWR Spent Fuel<br />

Maximum<br />

Number <strong>of</strong> Approximate Usual Heat<br />

Cask Assemblies Loaded Transport Shielding Cavity Removal, Number<br />

Designation PWR BWR Cask Weight, MT Mode Gamma Neutron Coolant kW Available(a)<br />

NFS-4 1 2 23 Truck Lead and Borated Water 12 7<br />

(NAC-1) steel water and<br />

antifreeze<br />

NLI 1/2 1 2 22 Truck Lead, Water Helium 11 5<br />

uranium<br />

and steel<br />

TN-8 3 36 Truck(b) Lead and Borated Air 36 2<br />

steel solid<br />

resin<br />

TN-9 7 36 Truck(b) Lead and Borated Air 25 1<br />

steel solid<br />

resin<br />

IF-300 7 18 63 Rail(c) Uranium Water and Water 7 6 (d) 4<br />

and steel antifreeze<br />

NLI 10/24 10 24 88 Rail Lead and Water Helium 97(e) 2<br />

steel<br />

(a) According to Winsor, Faletti, and De Steese (1980).<br />

(b) Overweight permit required.<br />

(c) Truck shipment for short distances with overweight permit.<br />

(d) Licensed decay heat load is 62 kW.<br />

(e) Licensed decay heat load is 70 kW.

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