HOW SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IS STORED AT DIABLO CANYON

Each of the two nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon uses 193 fuel assemblies at a time to produce power. Fuel assemblies are typically used for three 16-month cycles of operation before they no longer generate the appropriate levels of heat in the reactor. At the end of each cycle, the plant is brought offline and about a third of the fuel assemblies are cycled out into the plants spent fuel pools, which are built into the base rock under the facility. The fuel assemblies are stored there for at least five years before being considered cooled enough to transfer to Diablos aboveground dry storage casks, which are designed to function as interim storage for spent fuel until a federal facility is available. Diablo Canyon has moved 512 fuel assemblies into 16 dry storage casks, and the facility is designed to hold up to 138 storage casks, each containing 32 spent fuel assemblies. This is enough space to accommodate the fuel discharged from both reactors during the plants current 40-year licensed life, which expires in 2025. The next dry cask loading operation is scheduled for January 2012, when seven dry casks will be loaded.

KEY EVENTS AT DIABLO CANYON

1968 Construction of Diablo Canyon begins. 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 construction 1975 Initialcomplete. of plant 1976 First fuel shipment arrives. 1977 Carter administration eliminates the federal 1978 spent fuel reprocessing program. 1979 1980 1981 1982 Congress passes the Nuclear Waste Policy 1983 Act. It requires the Dept. of Energy to develop a repository for spent fuel 1984 by 1998. 1985 Unit 1 reactor begins operation in May 1986 Unit 2 reactor begins operation in March; in 1987 September the first 68 used fuel assemblies are placed into the Unit 1 1988 spent fuel pool. 1989 Spent fuel pools are 1990 reracked using highdensity storage racks, increasing capacity. 1991 Energy Department 1992 proceeds with plans to make Yucca Mountain, Nev., the federal 1993 repository for spent nuclear fuel. 1994 1995 1996 PG&E begins planning for temporary onsite 1997 storage, realizing Yucca Mountain may not be 1998 operational as scheduled. to 1999 PG&E decidesplans for proceed with onsite dry storage. 2000 Storage site 2001 engineering, licensing and permitting begin; First 8 dry casks are 2002 ordered. 2003 2004 2005 2006 First 8 dry casks are delivered to Diablo 2007 Canyon 2008 renew 2009 PG&E applies tofirst 8 Diablo licenses; casks are loaded. 2010 Second 8 casks loaded casks 2011 12 more dryin June.are set to arrive be 2012 7 casksinare toor Feb. loaded Jan. 2013 Construction of more foundation pads for dry 2014 casks is scheduled to begin. 12 dry casks are to 2015 be loaded and 10 more delivered. 2016 Dry cask loading 2017 campaigns continue every other year going forward (2015, 2017, etc.). 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 is sched2024 Reactor unit 1 down. uled to be shut Reactor is sched2025 uled to beunit 2down. shut

SPENT FUEL POOLS

Fuel assemblies in the plants spent fuel pools are stored in racks and covered by at least 23 feet of water at all times. When assemblies are ready for transfer to a dry cask, they are lifted from the racks and placed in a multi-purpose canister, which is positioned in the circular loading facilty at the upper left.

FUEL ASSEMBLIES
Each assembly holds 12-foot-tall rods that are filled with millions of uranium fuel pellets.

HOW SPENT FUEL IS HANDLED

Spent fuel at Diablo Canyon moves from the reactors to two spent fuel pools in an adjacent building. Eventually, it is placed in casks and moved to the dry storage facility.

Cayucos Atascadero Morro Bay Avila Beach

101

San Luis Obispo Arroyo Grande

Diablo Canyon
UNIT 2 REACTOR UNIT 2 SPENT FUEL POOL
Currently holds 1,104 fuel assemblies Capacity is 1,324 assemblies

UNIT 1 REACTOR UNIT 1 SPENT FUEL POOL

Currently holds 1,072 fuel assemblies Capacity is 1,324 assemblies

DRY STORAGE FACILITY

Currently stores 16 casks, each holding 32 fuel assemblies, on two foundation pads capable of holding 20 casks each. Can hold 138 casks stored on seven foundation pads. When filled, each cask weighs 340,000 pounds, equivalent to nearly 70 cars. Cost to buy and load each cask is almost $2 million.

EMERGENCY WATER SUPPLY

In an emergency, 5 million gallons can be added via pumps or gravity to cool spent fuel pools or the reactors themselves.

DRY STORAGE
Dry storage of spent fuel is considered a passive system in that it doesnt rely on external actions to remove residual heat being emitted from the stored spent fuel. Air is naturally drawn into each cask through vents at the bottom of the container, passes by the multi-purpose canister, which holds the spent fuel assemblies, and exits out of vents at the top of the cask. This convective process removes the heat and prevents the system from overheating.

THE DRY STORAGE CASK

Each cask is 19 feet tall and 11 feet in diameter. The cask holds the multipurpose canister (MPC), which holds the spent fuel assemblies. After the MPC is loaded, a 9-inch thick stainless steel lid is welded to the top. The fuel inside is then dried using a forced helium dehydration process and then the container is back-filled with helium to provide a protective inert environment. The MPC is then placed into the cask.

SHIELD BLOCK

CASK LID
The concrete-and-steel lid is held onto the cask by 2-1/2-inch diameter bolts.

VENTS

MPC LID
A 9-inch thick stainless steel lid is welded to the top of the canister.

MULTI-PURPOSE CANISTER (MPC)

Constructed of 1/2-inch thick stainless steel,

CASK SPENT FUEL ASSEMBLIES

Each assembly is 12 ft. tall.

the canister is 15 feet tall and 5-1/2 feet in diameter. Each container has a basket structure inside that creates compartments to hold up to 32 spent fuel assemblies. The MPC is designed for both dry storage and eventual transport to an offsite federal storage facility.

RADIAL SHIELD
A 28-inch layer of concrete surrounds the multi-purpose canister.

INNER SHELL
A 1-inch layer of steel

OUTER SHELL
A 1-inch layer of steel

MPC BASEPLATE BOTTOM PLATE

In 2006, project manager Kath Kunz talked about the first two 270,000 pound storage casks that had recently arrived at Diablo Canyon.

VENTS PEDESTAL SHIELD

Elevates the MPC above the bottom vents

SOURCE: PG&E TRIBUNE GRAPHIC BY BETH ANDERSON; FUEL ASSEMBLY PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM; SPENT FUEL POOL AND DRY CASK PHOTOS BY JOE JOHNSTON; PLANT PHOTO COURTESY OF PG&E