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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.
C. Erika Moss, Ondrej Chvala, Donny Hartanto, John P. Carter
Nuclear Technology | Volume 212 | Number 2 | February 2026 | Pages 277-293
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2025.2464430
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Public perception of nuclear power continues to be hindered by the challenge of used fuel management. Advanced Generation IV reactor designs such as the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) could potentially serve a significant role in high-level waste (HLW) minimization and management, with innovative fuel cycles warranting further study as commercial interest in these reactors continues to increase. In particular, the Sourdough refueling and waste management strategy has recently been proposed as a promising alternative fuel cycle for thermal spectrum MSRs operating with low-enriched uranium (LEU). The Sourdough concept has demonstrated promise in recent research as an efficient framework for minimizing and managing HLW in addition to supporting flexible nuclear fleet growth and grid decarbonization. In this work, the Sourdough refueling strategy will be implemented into a novel thermal spectrum LEU-fueled MSR design. The SCALE/KENO-VI Criticality Safety Analysis Sequence (CSAS6) will be used to study reactivity feedback and neutron flux behavior, while a combination of KENO-VI and TRITON will be used for implementation of the Sourdough refueling framework. Changes in reactivity resulting from different refuel enrichment levels and refuel volume additions will be examined for each depletion step with the objective of determining optimal refueling regimes for maintaining reactor safety and criticality, in addition to achieving a desired rate of fuel growth. Furthermore, the MSR model, in addition to all scripts developed for implementing and analyzing the Sourdough refueling strategy, is open source and made freely available with the intent of fostering continued growth in MSR fuel cycle research.