A typical dry cask storage system with vertical cylinders

Dry cask storage is a method of storing high-level radioactive waste, such as spent nuclear fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year. The fuel is surrounded by inert gas inside a large container. These casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. The steel cylinder provides a leak-tight containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public. Some of the cask designs can be used for both storage and transportation. from US government web site, no copyright This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... A Russian fissile material storage facility Underground Radioactive Material Sign Radioactive waste is waste material containing radioactive chemical elements that does not have a practical purpose. ... An inert gas is any gas that is not reactive under normal circumstances. ... A barrel is a hollow cylindrical container, usually made of wood staves and bound with iron bands. ... Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. ... A bolt may be one of the following things: A type of threaded fastener. ... Placing a concrete floor for a commercial building Installing rebar in a floor during a concrete pour In construction, concrete is a composite building material made from the combination of aggregate and cement binder. ...

There are various dry storage cask system designs. With some designs, the steel cylinders containing the fuel are placed vertically in a concrete vault; other designs orient the cylinders horizontally [1]. The concrete vaults provide the radiation shielding. Other cask designs orient the steel cylinder vertically on a concrete pad at a dry cask storage site and use both metal and concrete outer cylinders for radiation shielding.

History

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the need for alternative storage began to grow when pools at many nuclear reactors began to fill up with stored spent fuel. As there was not a national storage facility in operation (Yucca Mountain was, and remains, embroiled in controversy), utilities began looking at options for storing spent fuel. Dry cask storage was one of the most practical options for temporary storage. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion, where the chain reaction occurs in a split second). ... Yucca Mountain Yucca Mountain is a ridge-line in Nye County, Nevada; composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano. ...

The first dry storage installation was licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1986 at the Surry Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia. Spent fuel is currently stored in dry cask systems at a growing number of power plant sites, and at an interim facility located at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho. It is estimated that by 2014, all of the nuclear power plants in the United States will be out of room in their spent fuel pools, most likely requiring the use of temporary storage of some kind. Yucca Mountain is expected to open in 2010 at the earliest. The NRC, or Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is a United States government agency that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act in 1974, and was first opened January 19, 1975. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Surry nuclear power plant, named for the county in which it is located, is on an 840 acre (3. ... State nickname: Old Dominion Other U.S. States Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Governor Mark R. Warner (D) Official languages English Area 110,862 km² (35th)  - Land 102,642 km²  - Water 8,220 km² (7. ... The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is an 890 square mile (2,300 km²) complex located in the Idaho desert between the towns of Arco and Idaho Falls. ... Idaho Falls is a city located in Bonneville County, Idaho. ... 2014 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2010 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In Canada, Ontario Power Generation is in the process of constructing a Dry Storage Cask storage facility on it's Darlington site. Construction work is taking place within their nuclear facilities to facilitate cask loading and transportation. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is a public company whose shares are wholly owned by the government of Ontario. ...

External links

• NRC: Dry Cask Storage
• Locations of Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations