How does the DOE plan to package the spent fuel from nuclear power plants for transport to a repository or monitored retrievable storage site?
According to the Department of Energy’s latest proposal, about 90 percent of spent fuel from nuclear power plants would be shipped in the multi-purpose canister or MPC. The MPC is a packaging system for spent fuel rods that relies on a series of overpacks, one each for storage, transportation, or disposal. Two sizes of MPC, one with a 75-ton loaded weight, the other with 125-ton loaded weight, are currently under consideration. The MPCs are specifically designed to transport large quantities of radioactive waste by rail. The conceptual design for the system was accepted by the DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management on February 10, and will now go out for bid to contractors who will submit detailed designs for the project.
