UN 0602 - Nuclear Fuel Waste Management
(2011 version)

Announcements

• Offered May 7, 2011 - June 19, 2011
• Location: Lecture Theatre, Durham College - Whitby Campus, 1610 Champlain Avenue, Whitby. See Campus Maps.
• Time: 9:00 am start
• Deadlines: Final date to Register – May 20, 2011
  Last day to Drop Course – May 20, 2011

Course Description:

Presently, nuclear fuel waste management involves storage in water pools or dry storage containers at reactor sites. If the fuel is then defined as waste, permanent disposal at an appropriate deep geological site would be considered. This course will describe the physical and chemical properties of the fuel and these approaches to storage and disposal. Key features of the fuel include its chemical and physical structure and properties prior to, and after, in-reactor irradiation, the nature and distribution of radionuclides produced in-reactor, and the chemical and physical properties of the Zircaloy fuel cladding before and after in-reactor exposure. The principles behind pool and dry storage will be described including the design of storage containers and the chemical and corrosion processes that could influence their long-term integrity. The possible permanent disposal scenarios developed internationally will be discussed, with a primary emphasis on those potentially applicable in Canada. For this last topic, the design and fabrication of waste containers and the processes that could potentially lead to their failure, the properties of engineered barriers within the geological site, the essential geological features of the chosen site, and the computational modeling approaches used in site performance assessment calculations will be described.

Prerequisite: Registration in the UNENE Joint M. Eng. Program
Instructor: Prof. David Shoesmith, University of Western Ontario, dwshoesm@uwo.ca, 519 661-2111 x86366

Course Administration

• Schedule
  • May 7 & 8, 2011
  • May 21 & 22, 2011
  • June 4 & 5, 2011
  • June 18 & 19, 2011
• Course Outline (doc 24kb) - 2009 version

Course Notes: (2009 version unless otherwise noted)

• Lecture 1 General Overview (pdf 4.5 Mb)
• Lecture 2 International Perspectives (pdf 2.7Mb)
• Lecture 3 General repository characterization (pdf 1.9Mb)
• Lecture 4 Characterization of Repository conditions (pdf 3.1Mb)
• Lecture 5 Radiation Chemistry (pdf 590kb)
• Lecture 6 Used Fuel Properties (pdf 4.4Mb)
• Lecture 7 Basic Materials Properties (pdf 3.6Mb)
• Lecture 8 Basic Corrosion Processes (pdf 6.6Mb)
• Lecture 9 Waste Containers (pdf 3.7Mb)
• Lecture 10 Radionuclide Release Processes (pdf 920kb)
• Lecture 11 Used Fuel Dry Storage (Waldinger) (pdf 842kb)
• Lecture 12 Post Closure Assessment (pdf 3.6Mb) as of 2011.06.13
• Low and Intermediate Level, part 1 (2.9Mb), part 2 (2.0Mb)

Course Assignments

• assigned in class

Learning Resources

• EVOLUTION OF A CANADIAN DEEP GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY: BASE SCENARIO Report No: 06819-REP-01200-10092-R00, November 2003 (pdf 6.5Mb)
• EVOLUTION OF A CANADIAN DEEP GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY: DEFECTIVE CONTAINER SCENARIO Report No: 06819-REP-01200-10127-R00, February 2004 (pdf 1.1Mb)
• THIRD CASE STUDY - SITE AND DESIGN DESCRIPTION Report No: 06819-REP-01200-10124-R00, March 2004 (pdf 1.6Mb)
• THIRD CASE STUDY - DEFECTIVE CONTAINER SCENARIO Report No: 06819-REP-01200-10126-R00, March 2004 (pdf 11.2Mb)
• THIRD CASE STUDY - POSTCLOSURE SAFETY ASSESSMENT Report No: 06819-REP-01200-10109-R00, March 2004 (pdf 5.0Mb)
• OVERVIEW OF THE CORROSION BEHAVIOUR OF COPPER AND STEEL USED FUEL CONTAINERS IN A DEEP GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY IN THE SEDIMENTARY ROCK OF THE MICHIGAN BASIN, ONTARIO Report No: 06819-REP-01300-10101-R00, May 2005 (pdf 1.1Mb)
• REVIEW AND GAP ANALYSIS OF THE CORROSION OF COPPER CONTAINERS UNDER UNSATURATED CONDITIONS Report No: 06819-REP-01300-10124-R00, December 2006 (pdf 781kb)
• Used Fuel and Uranium Dioxide Dissolution Studies – A Review, NWMO TR-2007-03, July 2007 (pdf 2.3Mb)
• Nuclear Fuel Waste Projections in Canada – 2010 Update, NWMO TR-2010-17, December 2010 (pdf 1.1Mb)
• Uranium: A Resource for Clean Energy, Cameco Corporation, June 4, 2011 (pdf 12.3Mb)
• OPG's deep Geological Repository Project for Low and Intermediate Level Waste - Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for L&ILW, June 18, 2011 (pdf 4.2Mb)