2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Nuclear Spent Fuel Management: The Possibility of On-site Dry Cask Storage Introduction

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21810027
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Environmental impact assessment/Environmental policy
Research Institution	Meiji University
Principal Investigator	KATSUTA Tadahiro Meiji University, 法学部, 准教授 (80552463)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2010
Keywords	原子力発電 / 使用済核燃料 / 再処理 / プルトニウム / サイト内乾式貯蔵
Research Abstract	Political and technical advantages to introduce spent nuclear fuel interim storage into Japan's nuclear fuel cycle are examined. Once Rokkasho reprocessing plant starts operation, 80,000 tHM of spent Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel must be stored in an Away From Reactor (AFR) interim storage site until 2100. If a succeeding reprocessing plant starts operating, the spent LEU will reach its peak of 30,000 tHM before 2050, and then will decrease until the end of the second reprocessing plant operation. On the other hand, tripled number of final disposal sites for High Level Nuclear Waste (HLW) will be necessary with this condition. If there is no reprocessing or MOX use, the amount of spent fuel will reach over 115,000 tones at the year of 2100. However, the spent fuel management could be simplified and also the cost and the security would be improved by using an interim storage primarily.