Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and, depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle , it will have different isotopic ...

Oct 3, 2022 · Spent fuel refers to the nuclear fuel that has been used in a reactor. The fuel used in today’s commercial reactors is made up of small ceramic pellets of low-enriched uranium oxide. The fuel pellets are stacked vertically and encased in a metallic cladding to form a fuel rod.

EM’s mission includes safely and efficiently managing its spent nuclear fuel and preparing it for disposal in a geological repository, or otherwise safely removing it from the inventory. SNF has intrinsic value that is recognized by DOE and many others in the nuclear industry.

In fulfilling its mission, EM manages and dispositions nuclear materials that are excess to national security and have no DOE programmatic use (“surplus nuclear material”) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) resulting from nuclear weapons productions and energy research.

Mar 19, 2020 · The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Science 101: What is Spent Nuclear Fuel? You know how a nuclear power plant uses nuclear fuel and chain reactions to produce electricity. So what happens to that fuel when it's removed from a reactor?

Jan 10, 2022 · Safe, secure, proliferation resistant and economically efficient nuclear fuel cycles that minimize waste generation and environmental impacts globally contribute to the sustainability of nuclear energy.

Oct 30, 2024 · What is Spent Nuclear Fuel? Spent nuclear fuel refers to the bundles of uranium pellets encased in metal rods that have been used to power a nuclear reactor. Over time, nuclear fuel becomes less able to keep a nuclear reaction going.

Two different management strategies are used for spent nuclear fuel. In one the fuel is reprocessed to extract usable material (uranium and plutonium) for new fuel. In the other, spent fuel is simply considered a waste and is stored pending disposal.

Spent nuclear fuel, also called the used nuclear fuel, is a nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant or an experimental reactor), and a fresh fuel must replace that due to its insufficient reactivity.

Commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is nuclear fuel that has been removed from a commercial nuclear power reactor following irradiation and that is no longer intended for use in producing power. The United States first began using nuclear power to produce electricity in 1957.