DOE Offices Team Up to Ready Spent Fuel for Future Shipment Out of Idaho

Scenes from a recent demonstration of the capabilities and readiness of a new closure welding system that seals U.S. Department of Energy standard canisters containing spent nuclear fuel.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Teams from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offices of Environmental Management (EM) and Nuclear Energy (NE) recently collaborated on a demonstration of new equipment to seal spent nuclear fuel into a safe, transportable “road ready” system for future shipment out of Idaho.

EM and contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition LLC, and NE and contractor Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) showcased the capabilities and readiness of the closure welding system at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

Designed by BEA, the system is part of the spent nuclear fuel Road Ready Demonstration Project. In the future, EM and IEC will load spent fuel currently in an onsite dry storage facility into canisters and use the closure welding system to seal the loaded canisters. This work ensures the long term safety of spent nuclear fuel currently stored in Idaho and helps meet a DOE commitment to remove the material from the state.

The welding system is unique in that it attaches to a canister and automatically performs the closure weld. It then uses ultrasonic testing technology to inspect the weld, ensuring the weld is code-compliant and the canister meets applicable closure requirements.

The Road Ready Demonstration Project is developing the designs, technology, processes and licensing framework necessary to load and seal one “road ready” system, which consists of loaded DOE standard canisters placed into multipurpose canisters stored in larger transportable casks.

The demonstration occurred as EM's Idaho Cleanup Project completed the first of many modifications to a legacy facility to get spent nuclear fuel “road ready.” EM and IEC installed an insert into a transfer car that moves large casks containing spent nuclear fuel through a storage area.

ICP crews also recently completed a significant achievement by transferring 40 spent nuclear fuel baskets into safer, long term storage vaults. They finished the final transfer — moving the spent fuel from older, first-generation vaults to new, second-generation vaults — several months ahead of schedule.

And in 2023, ICP crews finished transferring the remainder of spent nuclear fuel from a pool to safer, dry storage nine months ahead of an Idaho Settlement Agreement milestone. EM worked closely on that project with NE and the Office of Naval Reactors Idaho Branch Office.

-Contributor: Carter Harrison