Abstract
The National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program (NSNFP) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) coordinates and integrates national efforts in the management and disposal of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owned spent nuclear fuel (SNF). These management functions include using the DOE standardized canister to package, store, treat, and transport SNF to the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada for long-term disposal. Nuclear criticality control measures are needed in these canisters because of the enrichment and total quantity of fissile material in some types of DOE SNF. These measures will be implemented using a new, corrosion resistant, neutron absorbing Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd alloy to fabricate fuel basket inserts for these canisters.
The DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management has proposed using the Transportation, Aging and Disposal (TAD) system canister to store, transport, age, and dispose of commercial SNF in the MGR. The specified criticality control material for this system is borated stainless steel, which is used for nuclear criticality control in applications such as fuel pool spent fuel storage racks, transportation casks, and storage vessels for nuclear fuel reprocessing solutions.
This paper compares the corrosion performance of these two alloy systems in postulated Yucca Mountain MGR environments.
