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Spent nuclear fuel information


Spent fuel pool at a nuclear power plant

Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and, depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it will have different isotopic constituents than when it started.[1]

Nuclear fuel rods become progressively more radioactive (and less thermally useful) due to neutron activation as they are fissioned, or "burnt", in the reactor. A fresh rod of low enriched uranium pellets (which can be safely handled with gloved hands) will become a highly lethal gamma emitter after 1–2 years of core irradiation, unsafe to approach unless under many feet of water shielding. This makes their invariable accumulation and safe temporary storage in spent fuel pools a prime source of high level radioactive waste and a major ongoing issue for future permanent disposal.

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Spent nuclear fuel

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Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant)...

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Spent fuel pool

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Spent fuel pools (SFP) are storage pools (or "ponds" in the United Kingdom) for spent fuel from nuclear reactors. They are typically 40 or more feet (12 m)...

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Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository

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Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository is a deep geological repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. It is near the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power...

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Nuclear reprocessing

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Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to...

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Nuclear fuel

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Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission...

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Nuclear fuel cycle

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dispose of spent nuclear fuel. If spent fuel is not reprocessed, the fuel cycle is referred to as an open fuel cycle (or a once-through fuel cycle); if...

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Nuclear flask

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A nuclear flask is a shipping container that is used to transport active nuclear materials between nuclear power station and spent fuel reprocessing facilities...

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Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository

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geological repository storage facility within Yucca Mountain for spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste in the United States. The site...

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MOX fuel

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Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium...

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Nuclear power

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spent fuel, and because Pu-239 is the preferred material for nuclear weapons, reprocessing is seen as a weapon proliferation risk. The first nuclear power...

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Radioactive waste

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shielding. In nuclear reprocessing plants about 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recycled back into uranium-based and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels. The residual...

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Environmental impact of nuclear power

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Nuclear power has various environmental impacts, both positive and negative, including the construction and operation of the plant, the nuclear fuel cycle...

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Phosphor bronze

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This alloy has application as thick corrosion-resistant overpack for spent nuclear fuel disposal in deep crystalline rocks. Magnetic tape was first used to...

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Isotopes of neptunium

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or isotopes of plutonium. Over the long term, 237 Np also forms in spent nuclear fuel as the decay product of americium-241. 237 Np is considered to be...

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Advanced reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel

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reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is a potential key to achieve a sustainable nuclear fuel cycle and to tackle the heavy burden of nuclear waste management...

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Nuclear power plant

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their operations, maintenance, and fuel costs are at the lower end of the spectrum of costs. However, building a nuclear power plant often spans five to...

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Nuclear Waste Policy Act

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tons of temporary storage capacity for spent fuel from civilian nuclear reactors. It required that spent fuel in temporary storage facilities be moved...

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Thorium fuel cycle

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The thorium fuel cycle is a nuclear fuel cycle that uses an isotope of thorium, 232 Th , as the fertile material. In the reactor, 232 Th is transmuted...

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Fukushima nuclear accident

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remove the remaining nuclear fuel material from the plants. TEPCO completed the removal of 1535 fuel assemblies from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool in December...

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Nuclear power in the United States

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nuclear experts told Congress that spent-fuel pools at US nuclear power plants are too full. They say the entire US spent-fuel policy should be overhauled in...

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Spent nuclear fuel storage

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fuel pool Nuclear fuel cycle Spent nuclear fuel Nuclear flask This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Spent nuclear fuel storage...

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Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant

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decision-in-principle later. The Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository is a deep geological repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel, the first such repository...

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Nuclear reactor

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being discharged from the reactor, spent nuclear fuel is transferred to the on-site spent fuel pool. The spent fuel pool is a large pool of water that...

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Skull Valley Indian Reservation

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2006, following ten years of review, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a license for the Private Fuel Storage (PFS) project, which the State...

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Dry cask storage

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storing high-level radioactive waste, such as spent nuclear fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year and often as much...

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Andreev Bay nuclear accident

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for storing spent nuclear fuel containers, a security checkpoint, and other technical facilities. The area contains? spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in storage...

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PUREX

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used nuclear fuel (spent nuclear fuel, or irradiated nuclear fuel). It is based on liquid–liquid extraction ion-exchange. PUREX is applied to spent nuclear...

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Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant

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operated by Sellafield Ltd (which is the site licensee company). Spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors was reprocessed to separate the 96% uranium and the...

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