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Center for Used Fuel Research: Building confidence in storage and transport
Used nuclear fuel storage and transportation have reached a critical juncture.
Dozens of utilities need reliable data on how used nuclear fuel performs in dry storage casks and canisters to extend regulatory licenses at sites across the United States. Likewise, the Department of Energy expects to take ownership of the used nuclear fuel—termed “spent nuclear fuel” in the laws and regulations governing its stewardship—and transfer it to one or more federal staging facilities for management and disposition.
Meanwhile, dozens of reactor companies are testing prototypes of advanced reactors and advanced reactor fuels. Eventually, regulators and industry must also verify the safety and security of storage methods for these advanced fuel types.
To help address these challenges, the DOE established the Center for Used Fuel Research (CUFR) in January 2026 for work related to the long-term storage and transport of used nuclear fuel.
Brent Shumaker, Steven Brewer, Alexander Hashemian, Ryan Kettle
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 390-400
Technical Paper—Instrumentation and Controls | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2067460
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents the results of an ongoing research and development effort to develop an online monitoring (OLM) system to support autonomous microreactor operations. A key component of this work is an evaluation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to identify, diagnose, and predict problems with sensors and processes of the reactor. As described herein, selected methods of AI/ML were used to identify and diagnose anomalous sensor and system behaviors using data from a thermal-hydraulic flow loop and from operating nuclear power plants. This work serves to further the state of the art in OLM technologies for nuclear reactor applications and will ultimately result in a comprehensive system to enable OLM of critical structures, systems, components, and processes in microreactors.