The new project grew out of previous DoE studies of the long-term dry cask systems currently used to safely store spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors, which isolated aspects of the system requiring additional data collection and analysis. The effort will receive $15.8 million in DoE funding over the next five years, and will be 20% funded by private companies and groups. The program is intended to assist in the creation of a new strategy to advance reliable technologies for the extended storage of spent nuclear fuel; other elements of the strategy include separate research related to the transportation of spent nuclear fuels and the potential design and creation of a new integrated waste management system.
To read the full Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste document, issued in January 2013, click here. For more information about the DoE's work in this area, visit the website of the DoE Office of Nuclear Energy at www.energy.gov/ne.
ANSI applauds the DoE and EPRI for their work to bolster the safe and effective storage of spent nuclear fuels. The Institute is proud of its work in the area of nuclear energy, particularly its leadership in the Nuclear Energy Standards Coordination Collaborative (NESCC), a joint initiative of ANSI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The NESCC was formed in 2009 to facilitate and coordinate the timely identification, development, and revision of standards for the design, operation, licensing, and deployment of nuclear power plants, as well as standards for other related nuclear technologies.
For more information on NESCC and its activities, visit www.ansi.org/nuclear.