Regular Article

An introduction to Spent Nuclear Fuel decay heat for Light Water Reactors: a review from the NEA WPNCS

¹ Reactor Physics and Thermal hydraulic Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland
² Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular, IFIC (CSIC-Univ. Valencia), Valencia, Spain
³ Institute for Nuclear Research (Atomki), H-4001 Debrecen, Hungary
⁴ CIEMAT – Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, MedioAmbientales y Tecnològicas, Madrid, Spain
⁵ Institut de Radioprotection et de Sureté Nucléaire, 92260 Fontenay aux Roses, France
⁶ EDF, DIPNN-DT, 69007 Lyon, France
⁷ Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
⁸ National Nuclear Laboratory, Workington, UK
⁹ Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Cadarache, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
¹⁰ Kernkraftwerk Goesgen-Däniken AG, Däniken, Switzerland
¹¹ Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS), Risley, UK
¹² KIT-Karlruhe Institue of Technology, Karlruhe, Germany
¹³ Subatech (CNRS/IN2P3, IMT Atlantique, Université de Nantes), 44307 Nantes, France
¹⁴ SCK CEN, Belgian Nuclear Research Center, Mol, Belgium
¹⁵ Federal Agency for nuclear Control, Brussels, Belgium
¹⁶ VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, Finland
¹⁷ Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH, Garching bei München, Germany
¹⁸ Framatome, Erlangen, Germany
¹⁹ Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Service d’Études des Réacteurs et de Mathématiques Appliquées, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
²⁰ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
²¹ University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
²² Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
²³ Rolls Royce, Derby, UK
²⁴ EDF – DPNT – DCN – PAD, 93200 Saint Denis, France
²⁵ Orano NC Recycling, 50444 Beaumont Hague, France
²⁶ Orano NPS, 78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
²⁷ EDF R&D, 91120 Palaiseau, France
²⁸ Division of Nuclear Science and Education, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), 75775 Paris, Cedex 16, France
²⁹ AXPO Power AG, Baden, Switzerland
³⁰ Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki, Japan
³¹ Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), Tokyo, Japan
³² Science Engineering Associates S.L. (SEA), Madrid, Spain
³³ Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
³⁴ PreussenElektra GmbH, Hannover, Germany
³⁵ Nagra – Nationale Genossenschaft für die Lagerung radioaktive Abfälle, Wettingen, Switzerland
³⁶ Studsvik Scandpower, Inc., Newton, Massachusetts, USA
³⁷ Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB), Sweden, Sweden
³⁸ Dept. of Nuclear Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
³⁹ Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
⁴⁰ WTI GmbH, Jülich, Germany

^* e-mail: dimitri-alexandre.rochman@psi.ch

Received: 9 January 2024
Received in final form: 28 May 2024
Accepted: 2 July 2024
Published online: 7 October 2024

Abstract

This paper summarized the efforts performed to understand decay heat estimation from existing spent nuclear fuel (SNF), under the auspices of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. Needs for precise estimations are related to safety, cost, and optimization of SNF handling, storage, and repository. The physical origins of decay heat (a more correct denomination would be decay power) are then introduced, to identify its main contributors (fission products and actinides) and time-dependent evolution. Due to limited absolute prediction capabilities, experimental information is crucial; measurement facilities and methods are then presented, highlighting both their relevance and our need for maintaining the unique current full-scale facility and developing new ones. The third part of this report is dedicated to the computational aspect of the decay heat estimation: calculation methods, codes, and validation. Different approaches and implementations currently exist for these three aspects, directly impacting our capabilities to predict decay heat and to inform decision-makers. Finally, recommendations from the expert community are proposed, potentially guiding future experimental and computational developments. One of the most important outcomes of this work is the consensus among participants on the need to reduce biases and uncertainties for the estimated SNF decay heat. If it is agreed that uncertainties (being one standard deviation) are on average small (less than a few percent), they still substantially impact various applications when one needs to consider up to three standard deviations, thus covering more than 95% of cases. The second main finding is the need of new decay heat measurements and validation for cases corresponding to more modern fuel characteristics: higher initial enrichment, higher average burnup, as well as shorter and longer cooling time. Similar needs exist for fuel types without public experimental data, such as MOX, VVER, or CANDU fuels. A third outcome is related to SNF assemblies for which no direct validation can be performed, representing the vast majority of cases (due to the large number of SNF assemblies currently stored, or too short or too long cooling periods of interest). A few solutions are possible, depending on the application. For the final repository, systematic measurements of quantities related to decay heat can be performed, such as neutron or gamma emission. This would provide indications of the SNF decay heat at the time of encapsulation. For other applications (short- or long-term cooling), the community would benefit from applying consistent and accepted recommendations on calculation methods, for both decay heat and uncertainties. This would improve the understanding of the results and make comparisons easier.