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Suggested Citation:"1.1 CONTEXT FOR THIS STUDY." National Research Council. 2006. Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage: Public Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11263.
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1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

In the Fiscal Year 2004 Energy and Water Development Conference Report, the U.S. Congress asked the National Academies to provide independent scientific and technical advice on the safety and security1 of commercial spent nuclear fuel storage in the United States (see Box 1.1). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security jointly sponsored this study, as directed by Congress.

Awareness and concerns about the threat of high-impact terrorism have become acute and pervasive since the attacks on September 11, 2001. The information gathered by the committee during this study led it to conclude that there were indeed credible concerns about the safety and security of spent nuclear fuel storage in the current threat environment. From the outset the committee believed that safety and security issues must be addressed quickly to determine whether additional measures are needed to prevent or mitigate attacks that could cause grave harm to people and cause widespread fear, disruption, and economic loss. The information gathered during this study reinforced that view. Any concern related to nuclear power plants2 has added stakes: Many people fear radiation more than they fear exposure to other physical insults. This amplifies the concern over a potential terrorist attack involving radioactive materials beyond the physical injuries it might cause, and beyond the economic costs of the cleanup.

1.1 CONTEXT FOR THIS STUDY

The congressional request for this study was prompted by conflicting public claims about the safety and security of commercial spent nuclear fuel storage at nuclear power plants. Some have argued that the dense packing used for storing spent fuel in cooling pools at nearly every nuclear power plant does not provide a sufficient safety margin in the event of a pool breach and consequent water loss from an accident or terrorist attack.3 In such cases, the potential exists for the fuel most recently discharged from a reactor to heat up sufficiently for its zirconium cladding to ignite, possibly resulting in the release of large amounts of radioactivity to the environment (Alvarez et al., 2003a). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s own analyses have suggested that such zirconium cladding fires and releases of radioactivity are possible (e.g., USNRC, 2001 a).

To reduce the potential for such an event, Alvarez et al. (2003a) suggested that spent fuel more than five years old be removed from the pool and stored in dry casks, and

1  

In the context of this study, safety refers to measures that protect spent nuclear fuel storage facilities against failure, damage, human error, or other accidents that would disperse radioactivity in the environment. Security refers to measures to protect spent fuel storage facilities against sabotage, attacks, or theft.

2  

Safety and security of reactors at nuclear power plants are outside of the committee’s statement of task and have been addressed only where they could not be separated from spent fuel storage. The distinctions between spent fuel storage and operating nuclear power reactors are sometimes blurred in public discussions of nuclear and radiological concerns.

3  

The committee refers to such occurrences as loss-of-pool-coolant events in this report.

Suggested Citation:"1.1 CONTEXT FOR THIS STUDY." National Research Council. 2006. Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage: Public Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11263.
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Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage: Public Report Get This Book
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In response to a request from Congress, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security sponsored a National Academies study to assess the safety and security risks of spent nuclear fuel stored in cooling pools and dry casks at commercial nuclear power plants. The information provided in this book examines the risks of terrorist attacks using these materials for a radiological dispersal device. Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel is an unclassified public summary of a more detailed classified book. The book finds that successful terrorist attacks on spent fuel pools, though difficult, are possible. A propagating fire in a pool could release large amounts of radioactive material, but rearranging spent fuel in the pool during storage and providing emergency water spray systems would reduce the likelihood of a propagating fire even under severe damage conditions. The book suggests that additional studies are needed to better understand these risks. Although dry casks have advantages over cooling pools, pools are necessary at all operating nuclear power plants to store at least the recently discharged fuel. The book explains it would be difficult for terrorists to steal enough spent fuel to construct a significant radiological dispersal device.

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