Chris Allen, Project ManagerDivision of Spent Fuel Management

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and SafeguardsU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Transportation Roles, Responsibilities, and Future

Challenges

Overview

• Transportation Roles and Responsibilities• Status of Transportation Rulemaking• Transportation Certificate Changes in Support of

Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) Operations

• Transportation Certificate Changes in Support of Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) and Higher Enrichments/Burnup

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Relationship of NRC’s Roles to those of other Parties• Department of Transportation

– Regulates the transportation of all hazardous material, including spent fuel.

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission– Licenses the commercial use of radioactive material, including

transportation.• Department of Energy

– Conducts non-commercial transportation of spent fuel

• State and Local Governments– May enact additional safety requirements that are not incompatible

with DOT requirements.– Have lead role in emergency response

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NRC Spent Fuel Transport Responsibilities• NRC establishes regulations for

package design standards• NRC evaluates package designs for

both initial issuance and amendment of transportation certificates

• NRC inspects and oversees certificate holders, package fabricators, licensee shippers, and carriers

• NRC approves routes for shipment of commercial spent nuclear fuel

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Status of Transportation Rulemaking• Published draft regulatory basis in Federal

Register (FR)• April 12, 2019 (84 FR 14899) • ADAMS Accession No. ML18262A185

• Proposed Rule due late 2020• Final Rule due early 2022• Coordinating with DOT

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CoC Changes ImpactingCISF Operations• Package fabrication

• Fabrication already discontinued for packages with -85 in the package identification number

• Proposed elimination of -96 fabrication in 2029 (aligned with IAEA)

• Incorporation of 10 CFR 72.48 changes into a transportation certificate of compliance

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Accident Tolerant Fuel and Higher Enrichments/Burnup• Material properties for different cladding• Transportation of UF6 at enrichment

greater than 5 weight percent• Benchmarking criticality analysis for

enrichments greater than 5 weight percent• High Burnup Fuel Validation

– Source term analysis– Burnup credit isotopics

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Takeaways

• Significant coordination between the NRC, the DOT and the DOE ensures spent fuel is transported safely

• Plan early• Identify and communicate technical

information

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