A local advisory board wants the Department of Energy to expedite processing of aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stocks at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. During its bimonthly meeting on Nov. 15, the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) approved a recommendation asking DOE to “accelerate plans and decisions to process its entire inventory of aluminum-clad SNF expeditiously through H-Canyon,” the nation’s only hardened chemical separations plant.
The aluminum-clad fuel was used in reactors at SRS and other DOE sites to produce nuclear materials for the nation’s nuclear weapons program, as well as in department research reactors. Unlike stainless steel or zirconium-clad SNF, the spent fuel in question, in its original form, was intentionally designed with aluminum cladding to make it easier to be chemically dissolved and processed through H Canyon.
The Savannah River Site stores about 2,700 bundles of aluminum-based spent fuel, with four fuel assemblies per bundle. The site also stores 60 cans of aluminum-based fuel assemblies and 120 aluminum-clad high-flux isotope reactor (HFIR) cores. Of the 2,700 bundles, SRS is authorized to process up to 1,000, but also plans to process all 120 HFIR cores currently in storage and could also process another 80 HFIR cores that are now stored at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The campaign started in April 2015 and is slated for completion in 2024.
The CAB said DOE should “accelerate plans and decisions to process its entire inventory of aluminum-clad SNF expeditiously through H-Canyon.” The CAB wants to ensure the material is processed before H Canyon is shut down, which could leave the site holding unwanted waste. A DOE Inspector General’s Office audit released on Sept. 26 found there is no long-term strategy for the facility, which is scheduled to operate through 2024. “The reluctance of DOE to commit to a holistic and long-term strategy to work off its existing aluminum-clad SNF inventory is more likely linked to competing budget priorities,” the CAB wrote.
