“Research quantities” of high-burn-up spent nuclear fuel – reportedly about 100 pounds – have arrived at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where the highly radioactive material will be tested and studied in one of the lab’s hot-cell facilities.
“ORNL is in receipt of research quantities of high-burn-up commercial fuel from the North Anna Power Station,” Claire Sinclair, a spokeswoman in DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Science, said in response to questions.
“The research has begun and will involve detailed nondestructive and destructive examination and other analyses,” Sinclair said.
The fuel from a pressurized water reactor at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia will be closely evaluated as part of DOE efforts to build the database on high-burn-up fuels and better prepare it for long-term storage and eventual disposal. “The trend over the years has been to go toward higher burn-up fuel to reduce waste and improve economics,” according to ORNL Director Thom Mason.
The fuel is not experimental, Mason said, but he noted that less is known about the fuels that have become more common in recent years.
A number of activist groups have expressed concern about the project.
Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said Monday he was “deeply disappointed” that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not release information on the route that was to be used to transport the highly radioactive spent fuel from North Anna to Oak Ridge. He said the NRC promised that information but never provided it.
