Management of Severely Damaged Spent Fuel and Corium

The Fukushima Daiichi accident (March 2011) resulted in severe damage and reported fuel core meltdown in three of the reactors on the nuclear power plant site. A fourth reactor, although shutdown, suffered severe damage to its structure from a hydrogen explosion, which resulted in plant and roofing materials being deposited in the fuel storage pool. The fuel in this pool may also have been damaged due to loss of cooling water and the introduction of seawater as a replacement. In terms of multiple failures, an accident of this scale has not been experienced previously resulting in a substantial remediation challenge. The objective of this CRP is to expand the existing knowledge base and identify optimal approaches for managing severely damaged spent fuel. Severely damaged spent fuel covers: material from post-irradiation examination; fuel debris, fuel damaged during fuel handling operations; fuel damaged as a result of loss of cooling; corium; molten core– concrete interaction products.