Analysis of Ignition Testing on K-West Basin Fuel

Approximately 2100 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) discharged from the N-Reactor have been stored underwater at the K-Basins in the 100 Area of the Hanford Site. The spent fuel has been stored in the K-East Basin since 1975 and in the K-West Basin since 1981. Some of the SNF elements in these basins have corroded because of various breaches in the Zircaloy cladding that occurred during fuel discharge operations and/or subsequent handling and storage in the basins. Consequently, radioactive material in the fuel has been released into the basin water, and water has leaked from the K-East Basin into the soil below. To protect the Columbia River, which is only 380 m from the basins, the SNF is scheduled to be removed and transported for interim dry storage in the 200 East Area, in the central portion of the Site. However, before being shipped, the corroded fuel elements will be loaded into Multi-Canister OverPacks and conditioned. The conditioning process will be selected based on the Integrated Process Strategy (IPS) (WHC 1995), which was prepared on the basis of the dry storage concept developed by the Independent Technical Assessment (ITA) team (ITA 1994).