Project N0 U-4.02/94: project elaboration

Ten NPPs with WWER 1000 reactors were operated in 1996 in Ukraine. Since the decision on final destination of the spent fuel from these power plants, was not available at the beginning of the nineties, the EC decided to support the TACIS project to develop a strategy, technical solution and economical evaluation for regional storage of the spent fuel from the Ukrainian WWER 1000 reactors.
The study was aimed to cover following main topics:

• Identification of the spent fuel inventory and the definition of possible storage scenarios;
• Selection of the principal strategy (storage at the reactor site or centralized storage facility) and the type of facility, including a feasibility study of the fuel transportation, an analysis of the public acceptance of the centralized facility, the licensing aspects of the new installation and the evaluation of the advantages and the disadvantages of the proposed solutions;
• Review and analysis of the compliance with the safety criteria;
• Analysis of the potential utilization of the available technologies in the new storage strategy.

Both on-site storage and centralized storage facilities were considered. Spent fuel final disposal and reprocessing options were not considered. As a final result of the study, a recommendation was expected, proposing a storage strategy, the type of facility and the feasible technology to be used for the storage.

The overall objective of this project was to contribute to safe and sound long term management of the spent fuel from the WWER 1000 reactors until final decision is made on its transport for either reprocessing or the final disposal.

The specific objective of the project was to perform a study, providing the Ukrainian Authorities with necessary information to be able to make decisions on the long term storage of the spent fuel from the WWER 1000 reactors.

An independent analysis of the Ukrainians spent fuel storage needs and the existing technologies in the Western countries was performed to define the options for the Ukrainian WWER 1000 spent fuel storage, as well as to recommend and justify selected options. A multi-criteria approach was used, considering not only technical, economical and financial aspects but also the possibility of local manufacturing, public acceptance considerations etc. A storage period of at least 50 years was considered.

In general, four different types of spent fuel storage have been considered – wet pools, vaults, concrete casks and dual-purpose steel casks. In the process of evaluation, the wet storage in pools was excluded as a non–feasible option.

Analysis of both on-site storage and centralized storage facility resulted to well justified recommendation to establish a centralized storage facility. A single site, the Chernobyl exclusion zone, was strictly recommended for the facility construction.
The works and also the final report, dealing with three selected spent fuel storage scenarios, were divided into two parts.

The first part covers:

• Compilation and analysis of relevant data and rules;
• Brief description of all considered scenarios: Concrete casks, dual-purpose steel casks and vault system;
• Evaluation of pre-selected options using multicriteria analysis.

The second part covers:

• Detailed technical description of the dual-purpose steel casks scenario;
• Detailed technical description of the concrete casks scenario;
• Detailed technical description of the dry-storage vault system;
• Economical evaluation of all three scenarios (investment and operational costs), based on western costs and approach;
• Outline of the safety analysis report (SAR) for all three selected scenarios.

Based on the performed analysis, considering the specific conditions in Ukraine and also the specific situation at each individual NPP, it was recognised, that a combination of various on site temporary storage options (mostly concrete or dual-purpose steel casks) together with a systematic effort to design and construct the centralized spent fuel storage facility is the most feasible option for the time being.

The results of this project represent a valuable contribution to the solution for the long time storage of spent fuel from WWER 1000 reactors in Ukraine. The results are a very good basis for the foreseen licensing and the implementation work.

Comments

(Quality of the results, Lesson learned, Recommendations for follow-up)

The final report is comprehensive, properly and in sufficient details describing all the achievements and results achieved by the contractor. The results of the project are presented in two parts of the final document:

• the selection of the storage strategy and the options and
• the detailed technical description and the economical evaluation of the selected options.

The project fully met the objectives, stated in the relevant section of the ToR.

Further Information

Further information on the project results can be found in the Final report (available in the JRC Petten archive) and sought from the beneficiary organization.

The Project Final report is available at the JRC-IE archive.