Application of a safeguard radiation detector to qualifying spent reactor fuel for transport

Summary form only given, as follows. The FORK measurement system, designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards program, has been selected as the initial prototype for a system to qualify spent reactor fuel from utility sites to federal storage facilities are being designed to accept assemblies that meet certain reactivity restrictions, to ensure nuclear criticality safety. The aging inventory of spent fuel, with reduced shielding and thermal requirements, permits cask capacity to be increased so that, under extraordinary conditions, nuclear criticality becomes theoretically possible. Measurements of the neutron and gamma radiation from spent reactor fuel can be used to screen assemblies to prevent misloading of overreactive fuel. The FORK system has proved effective and reliable, and has been used extensively in the US and abroad. Tests at fuel storage sites with the FORT system will be used to determine operational procedures and the final system design