A Presentation to the National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program April 14, 2009

1. A Presentation to the National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program April 14, 2009 Spent Fuel Project Status Dawn Gillas Federal Program Manager Nuclear Material Programs Division DOE-SR

2. Purpose Status of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Operations at SRS • SNF Program Mission • General Issues • SNF Receipt and Storage Capability • Ongoing SNF Operations: FRR and DRR Receipts • Summary

3. SRS SNF Program Mission Support the United States’ nuclear weapons nonproliferation policy by reducing civil commerce in HEU, since HEU can be used directly in the production of nuclear weapons. • Receive Al-based FRR, DRR, and INL SNF until 2019 • Provide safe interim SNF storage through 2019 • Deinventory SRS Non-Al to INL by 2019 • Deinventory all Al-based SNF inventory through H-Canyon by 2019 • Deinventory all target materials and sources by 2020. 4

4. General Issues • Disposition of Al SNF using H-Canyon • SRS / INL Exchange • Increase in SNF receipts from the Baseline: GAP and FRR full participation (Canada) • Effect on L-Basin storage capacity • Effect on final disposition

5. SRS SNF Receipt Capability Receive Al-based SNF, Typical Forms: • Material Test Reactor (MTR) • HEU or LEU • Plates or tubes 3” x 3” x 36” • ~12 lbs total weight • Fuel core of enriched uranium 150 to 490 grams of U-235 before irradiation • 40 to 60% U-235 burn up

6. SRS SNF Receipt Capability Continued Receive Al-based SNF, Atypical Forms: • 2 piece High Flux Isotope Reactor Core • Inner Core - 171 plates • 11.7” OD x 30” L • Outer Core - 369 plates • 17.2” OD x 31” L • 300 lbs total weight • 1 Slowpoke Core (Toronto) • 297 Pins • 8.6” OD x 9” L • 0.87 kg HM • 93% Enriched HFIR OUTER CORE HFIR INNER CORE

7. GNS-16 JRF-90Y-950K JRC-80Y-20T TN-7/2 LWT TN-MTR GE-2000 JMS-87Y-18.5T SRS SNF Cask Receipt Capability

8. SRS SNF Storage Capability Submerged 3 x 10 and 4 x 10 VTS racks MTR SNF Basin Storage • Vertical Tube Storage (VTS) • Fixed geometry for criticality control • 4 to 5 MTR assemblies per tube (bundle) • one tube per storage rack position • ~11000 MTR currently stored • 15515 MTR Capacity Loaded tube ready for storage

9. SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued MTR Capacity without H-Canyon Operations Baseline Plus Baseline DRAFT

10. SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued • High Flux Isotope Reactor Core Basin Storage Racks • Fixed geometry for criticality control • 2 inner and 2 outer cores per rack • 60 HFIR Racks • 120 Core storage capacity • 78 Cores currently stored 2 Outer Core Posts 2 Inner Core Posts

11. SRS SNF Storage Capability Continued HFIR Core Capacity without Canyon Operations DRAFT

12. Ongoing SNF Operations: FRR Program • FRRs with Al-Based fuel • containing US origin HEU • Agree to convert to LEU fuel • 34 eligible countries • 76 research reactors • 17,803 estimated fuel assemblies • Savannah River Site • Aluminum based SNF • FRR receipts through 2019 • US arrival via Charleston NWS • Transported to SRS by train or truck

13. Ongoing SNF Operations: DRR Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Missouri Research Reactor Idaho National Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor Savannah River Site

14. Summary • L-basin installed MTR storage capacity sized for Baseline FRR, DRR, INL Exchange receipts. • L-Basin added HFIR capacity needed • L-basin may require added storage capacity for Baseline plus receipts from GAP and or FRR full participation (Canada). • H-Canyon start date for Al SNF disposition is a key factor for the decision to install additional L-basin storage capacity.