High-Burnup Demo Cask Receipt at INL

The Idaho Settlement Agreementa and related supplements between the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho are clear that the spent fuel under consideration is prohibited from being received at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) under present restrictions. This report is a planning document under the presumption that this prohibition is modified (eased or lifted) at some future date such that the receipt and opening of the high-burnup demo cask (HBDC) at INL is deemed allowable.

In support of the High-Burnup Spent Fuel Data Projectb, the HBDC and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) contents were placed in dry storage in November 2017, with periodic thermal data collection to continue throughout the intended 10-year storage period. The High-Burnup Spent Fuel Data Project anticipates the HBDC will be transported and opened to allow spent fuel examinations
that can support the licensing safety bases for extended storage of high-burnup spent fuels. To avoid disturbing the properties of the cask, cladding, fuel, and other hardware, the desire is to
transport the HBDC to a facility with capabilities for cask and dry fuel handling, with the intent to avoid rewetting the cask and contents.
The designated research project cask is a single TN-32B cask at the North Anna Power Station (NAPS) Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). This report assumes the HBDC can be transported to, received at, and opened at the INL Site, with the spent fuel removed and prepared for examination at facilities located at INL. It is assumed that some SNF rods and pins
are removed from the HBDC using capabilities at the CPP-603 facility as adapted for such task, and delivered to the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF) for examination and testing in a manner analogous to that done earlier for the “sibling pins.”c

This report examines the considerations necessary and prudent for an anticipated transport, receipt, and opening of the HBDC with SNF retrieval and examination at INL in support of the High-Burnup Spent Fuel Data Project.

This report fulfills the M4 milestone, M4SF-20IN010201042, “Steps Needed and Timeline for

Acceptance of Demo Cask to INL.”