Review of Information for Spent Nuclear Fuel Burnup Confirmation (NUREG/CR-6998)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: June 2009
Date Published: December 2009

Prepared by:
B.B. Bevard, J.C. Wagner and C.V. Parks (ORNL)
M. Aissa (NRC)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Managed by UT-Battelle, LLC
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6170

M. Aissa, NC Project Manager

NRC Job Code Y6517

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Abstract

The Interim Staff Guidance on burnup credit (ISG-8, revision 2) for pressurized-water-reactor spent nuclear fuel in storage and transport casks, issued in 2002 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Spent Fuel Project Office, recommends an out-of-core burnup measurement to confirm the reactor record and compliance with the assembly burnup value used for cask loading acceptance. This recommendation is intended to prevent unauthorized loading (i.e., misloading) of assemblies due to inaccuracies in reactor burnup records and/or improper assembly identification, thereby ensuring that the appropriate subcritical margin is maintained. The purpose of this report is to detail information and issues relevant to preshipment burnup measurements when using burnup credit in pressurized-water-reactor spent nuclear fuel transport and storage casks. In particular, this report reviews the role of burnup measurements in the regulatory guidance for demonstrating compliance with burnup loading criteria, burnup measurement capabilities and experience, generation and accuracy of utility burnup records, fuel movement and misloading experience, and the consequences of misloading assemblies in casks designed for burnup credit.