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September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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DOE on track to deliver high-burnup SNF to Idaho by 2027
The Department of Energy said it anticipated delivering a research cask of high-burnup spent nuclear fuel from Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia to Idaho National Laboratory by fall 2027. The planned shipment is part of the High Burnup Dry Storage Research Project being conducted by the DOE with the Electric Power Research Institute.
As preparations continue, the DOE said it is working closely with federal agencies as well as tribal and state governments along potential transportation routes to ensure safety, transparency, and readiness every step of the way.
Watch the DOE’s latest video outlining the project here.
Stanley E. Turner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 151 | Number 3 | November 2005 | Pages 344-347
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE05-A2553
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In recent years, neutron attenuation measurements have demonstrated that neutron absorber panels with discrete boron carbide particles are less effective in neutron absorption than equivalent homogenous absorber panels. The penalty observed in these attenuation measurements with thermal neutrons has been assumed to apply to the criticality analysis of fuel storage cells, without regard to the very significant difference in the neutron spectrum involved. Furthermore, the attenuation measurements are made with a collimated beam of thermalized neutrons impinging perpendicularly on the absorber panel, whereas in fuel storage cells, the neutrons are nearly isotropic and impinge on the panel at all angles. In an effort to understand the phenomena involved and to more accurately determine the effect on criticality safety analyses, calculations were made with the MCNP code, which is capable of explicitly describing discrete B4C particles of various mean size. Results of these calculations, described herein, show that neutron attenuation measurements are only weakly related to criticality analysis and that the penalty seen in attenuation measurements does not apply and should not be directly applied in criticality analyses.