Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors (cid:48)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:67)(cid:69)(cid:69)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:71)(cid:83)(cid:0)(cid:79)(cid:70)(cid:0)(cid:65)(cid:78)(cid:0)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:84)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:78)(cid:65)(cid:84)(cid:73)(cid:79)(cid:78)(cid:65)(cid:76)(cid:0)(cid:67)(cid:79)(cid:78)(cid:70)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:78)(cid:67)(cid:69) (cid:54)(cid:73)(cid:69)(cid:78)(cid:78)(cid:65)(cid:12)(cid:0)(cid:17)(cid:25)(cid:110)(cid:18)(cid:18)(cid:0)(cid:42)(cid:85)(cid:78)(cid:69)(cid:0)(cid:18)(cid:16)(cid:16)(cid:22) IAEA SAFETY RELATED PUBLICATIONS IAEA SAFETY STANDARDS Under the terms of Article III of its Statute, the IAEA is authorized to establish or adopt standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property, and to provide for the application of these standards. The publications by means of which the IAEA establishes standards are issued in the IAEA Safety Standards Series. 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Other safety related IAEA publications are issued as Radiological Assessment Reports, the International Nuclear Safety Group’s INSAG Reports, Technical Reports and TECDOCs. The IAEA also issues reports on radiological accidents, training manuals and practical manuals, and other special safety related publications. Security related publications are issued in the IAEA Nuclear Security Series. MANAGEMENT OF SPENT FUEL FROM NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GREECE NORWAY ALBANIA GUATEMALA PAKISTAN ALGERIA HAITI PALAU ANGOLA HOLY SEE PANAMA ARGENTINA HONDURAS PARAGUAY ARMENIA HUNGARY PERU AUSTRALIA ICELAND PHILIPPINES AUSTRIA INDIA POLAND AZERBAIJAN INDONESIA PORTUGAL BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF QATAR BELARUS IRAQ REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BELGIUM IRELAND ROMANIA BELIZE ISRAEL RUSSIAN FEDERATION BENIN ITALY SAUDI ARABIA BOLIVIA JAMAICA SENEGAL BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAPAN SERBIA BOTSWANA JORDAN SEYCHELLES BRAZIL KAZAKHSTAN SIERRA LEONE BULGARIA KENYA SINGAPORE BURKINA FASO KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SLOVAKIA CAMEROON KUWAIT SLOVENIA CANADA KYRGYZSTAN SOUTH AFRICA CENTRAL AFRICAN LATVIA SPAIN REPUBLIC LEBANON SRI LANKA CHAD LIBERIA SUDAN CHILE LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SWEDEN CHINA LIECHTENSTEIN SWITZERLAND COLOMBIA LITHUANIA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COSTA RICA LUXEMBOURG TAJIKISTAN CÔTE D’IVOIRE MADAGASCAR THAILAND CROATIA MALAWI THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CUBA MALAYSIA REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CYPRUS MALI TUNISIA CZECH REPUBLIC MALTA TURKEY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MARSHALL ISLANDS UGANDA OF THE CONGO MAURITANIA UKRAINE DENMARK MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF ECUADOR MONACO GREAT BRITAIN AND EGYPT MONGOLIA NORTHERN IRELAND EL SALVADOR MONTENEGRO UNITED REPUBLIC ERITREA MOROCCO OF TANZANIA ESTONIA MOZAMBIQUE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ETHIOPIA MYANMAR URUGUAY FINLAND NAMIBIA UZBEKISTAN FRANCE NETHERLANDS VENEZUELA GABON NEW ZEALAND VIETNAM GEORGIA NICARAGUA YEMEN GERMANY NIGER ZAMBIA GHANA NIGERIA ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. PROCEEDINGS SERIES MANAGEMENT OF SPENT FUEL FROM NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS PROCEEDINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGEMENT OF SPENT FUEL FROM NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS ORGANIZED BY THE INTTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY IN COOPERATION WITH THE OECD NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY AND HELD IN VIENNA, 19–22 JUNE 2006 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2007 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at: Sales and Promotion, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 email: [email protected] http://www.iaea.org/books © IAEA, 2007 Printed by the IAEA in Austria July 2007 STI/PUB/1295 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data International Conference on Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors (2006 : Vienna, Austria) Management of spent fuel from nuclear power reactors / organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency in cooperation with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency held in Vienna, Austria, 19–22 June 2006. — Vienna : The Agency, 2007. p. ; 24 cm. — (Proceedings series, ISSN 0074–1884) STI/PUB/1295 ISBN 92–0–102107–0 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Radioactive waste disposal — Management — Congresses. 2. Spent reactor fuels — Management — Congresses. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. III. Series: Proceedings series (International Atomic Energy Agency). IAEAL 07–00482 FOREWORD National strategies for the management of spent fuel vary, ranging from reprocessing to direct disposal. This indicates that spent fuel is regarded differently by countries — as a resource by some and as a waste by others. At the moment most spent fuel is in storage at nuclear power plants, at a few centralized storage sites and at reprocessing facilities. The next steps towards the disposition of spent fuel are either reuse, through reprocessing, or disposal in geological repositories. Because progress on implementing these strategies is slow in most countries, the amounts of spent fuel in storage are increasing. The prospect of a revival of the nuclear power industry in the next decades indicates that even more spent fuel could go into storage. On the other hand, spent fuel has been successfully and safely stored in wet and dry conditions for several decades without serious problems, but without decisions on more permanent solutions there could be the prospect of continued storage for times of up to and beyond one hundred years. The management of spent fuel is, for strategic, economic, safety and security reasons, a key issue for the future of nuclear power and is an issue that many States have yet to decide upon. The IAEA organized this conference on the management of spent fuel from nuclear power reactors to facilitate the exchange of information on the subject among Member States and to look for common approaches to the issues identified. The conference was organized in cooperation with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and held in Vienna from 19 to 22 June 2006. The conference was arranged in eight topical sessions: the evolving international scene, the international safety regime, criticality safety, storage term limits, storage facilities, storage containers, fuel and cladding properties and behaviour, and looking to the future. The conference was structured to promote discussion within the sessions and in focused panel sessions. This publication includes the opening and closing speeches, the keynote papers, the summaries of the panel discussions and sessions, the Conference President’s summary and a summary. A CD-ROM containing the unedited contributed papers to the conference can be found at the back of this book. The IAEA officers responsible for this publication were E. Warnecke of the Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety and W.J. Danker of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE The Proceedings have been edited by the editorial staff of the IAEA to the extent considered necessary for the reader’s assistance. The views expressed remain, however, the responsibility of the named authors or participants. In addition, the views are not necessarily those of the governments of the nominating Member States or of the nominating organizations. Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. Material prepared by authors who are in contractual relation with governments is copyrighted by the IAEA, as publisher, only to the extent permitted by the appropriate national regulations. CONTENTS SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 OPENING SESSION Opening Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Y.A. Sokolov Opening Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 T. Tanaka President’s Opening Adress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 J. Bouchard SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT — THE EVOLVING INTERNATIONAL SCENE (Session 1.A) International perspectives on spent fuel management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 E. Amaral, K. Brockman, H. Forsström, An international perspective on the management of spent fuel . . . . . . . . . 31 T. Tanaka Multinational approaches relevant to spent fuel management . . . . . . . . . . 41 B. Pellaud Global nuclear energy partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 L. Brown Initiative by the President of the Russian Federation on global nuclear infrastructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 A. Zrodnikov Back end of the nuclear fuel cycle: The French choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 F. Fouquet Evolving policies in expanding economies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 S.K. Jain Spent fuel: Nuclear security issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 M. Gregoric INTERNATIONAL SAFETY REGIME (Session 1.B) Implementation of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. . . . . 117 A.-C. Lacoste Towards a consistent set of harmonized safety standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 A.-C. Lacoste Transport issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 S. Whittingham CRITICALITY SAFETY (Session 2) Current issues in criticality safety, including burnup credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 J.-C. Neuber Potential benefits of burnup credit in Hungary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 G. Hordósy The South African experience in spent fuel management at the Koeberg nuclear power plant — The perspective of the National Nuclear Regulator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 S. Rokita, T.F. Hill, G.A. Clapisson New approach to nuclear safety assessment of the WWER-440 reactor pool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 E.A. Dudka, Y. Kovbasenko INTERNATIONAL SAFETY REGIME (Session 3) Licensing aspects of spent fuel storage as a function of timescales. . . . . . . 221 P. Lietava PANEL DISCUSSION (Session 3) Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 W. Brach Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 A. Lavrinovich Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 V. Khotylev Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 K. Shirai Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 P. Standring Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 I. Pechera Panel Discussion: Term related licensing issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253