Safely managing spent nuclear fuel: A persistent challenge
By delivering rigorous science and strategic analysis, ORNL’s Used Fuel and Nuclear Material Disposition group represents a cornerstone of the nation’s nuclear waste management strategy.
Managing the nation’s spent nuclear fuel is one of the nuclear industry’s most enduring challenges. Ensuring safe and secure transportation and long-term disposal require detailed studies of how spent fuel responds to heat, stress, and how it behaves over extended periods of time.
ORNL’s Used Fuel and Nuclear Material Disposition Group delivers the science and data needed to meet these challenges head-on, providing data and analysis for handling nuclear materials with confidence—now and in the decades to come.
Core expertise: From component-level science to program-level strategy
The UFNMD conducts research from the component level to the system level of nuclear waste management, including:
- Utilizing ORNL’s Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory to conduct tests and collect data on high-burnup light-water reactor fuel when exposed to elevated temperatures and mechanical loads over time.
- Using experimental data to develop models and perform analysis of spent fuel behavior during transport and storage. These models are validated against regulatory criteria to ensure conservative safety margins.
- Comprehensive evaluations of logistics, cost, and program design to support strategic decision-making for long-term nuclear waste management. The group’s analyses guide DOE and regulatory partners toward best practices in operating large-scale nuclear waste programs.
Leveraging facilities and expertise for discovery
ORNL’s Sister Rod project exemplifies the group’s unparalleled capabilities in spent nuclear fuels research.
In a decade-long study, the UFNMD group completed a groundbreaking exploration of the performance of 25 full-length, high burnup commercial fuel rods, or “Sister Rods,” in extended dry storage and transportation conditions. The group characterized the performance of integrated fuel assemblies across multiple cladding materials and burnup levels and developed custom equipment and hot-cell techniques to provide vital insights on pellet microstructure, fatigue performance, and aerosol release.
Data from the Sister Rod project offers a new understanding of spent nuclear fuel performance and reinforces both domestic and international confidence in extended dry storage, as well as the eventual safe transportation of the world’s spent nuclear fuel to a geological repository.
Strategic collaborations across the nuclear complex
The UFNMD group partners in research with several national laboratories, providing both leadership and technical support on key projects.
As active contributors to the Extended Storage Collaboration Program, the team engages industry, regulators, and international experts to align DOE objectives with broader stakeholder needs.
Securing competitive advantage and national security.
Through continued innovation and collaboration, the group will ensure the safe and secure, management of spent nuclear fuel for generations to come.