STRATEGY ON THE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL MANAGEMENT OF THE RESEARCH REACTORS IN INDONESIA

Sari

STRATEGY ON THE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL MANAGEMENT OF THE RESEARCH REACTORS IN INDONESIA. Indonesia is expected to apply the strategy of long terms to rage for spent fuel generated from the research reactors. The capacity of existing interim storage for spent fuel (ISSF) facility in principle able to accommodate all the spent fuel generated Serpong research reactor, but it must consider long-term conditions of thespent fuels and its wet storage facilities. This long-term strategy requires special attention to some parameters dealing with the water chemistry and the degradation of the materials. Besides it is necessary to built reserves pace to deal with emergencies. After the Serpong reactor decommissioned, it is recommended to build the new dry storage to accomodate all of the spent fuel in another location since the Serpong area will be very dense residential in the decades to come. The most realistic future back-end scenario is if Indonesia has nuclear power plants (NPP), then the disposal of the spent fuel generated from research reactor in the future can be done in one location with commercial spent fuel from the NPP. Keywords: Spent Nuclear Fuel. Research Reactor, Interim Storage, Long Term Storage INTRODUCTION Indonesia does not have nuclear power plant. At present Indonesia has 3 research reactors: a 30 MW MTR type multipurpose reactor at Serpong Site, a 2 MW TRIGA type research reactor at Bandung Site and a small 100 kW TRIGA type reactor at Yogyakarta site. The Research Reactors data and their status are shown in Table 1 below.The Government Regulation No. 27/2002 on Radioactive Waste Management stated that the spent nuclear fuel is prohibited to be reprocessed by user, and only gives two options, direct disposal by National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) or return to the supplier country [1]. Since it is not economical to carry out the direct disposal of spent nuclear fuel from the research reactors, since the quantity is too small, so, Indonesia’s high interest in the safety of spent nuclear fuel management is related primarily to the repatriation to the origin country, and/or long term storage of that spent nuclear fuel generated from research reactors [2]. Table 1. Research Reactor Data in Indonesia Place/Site Maker Type Power Critical Status Bandung GA Triga 2 MW 1964 Maintenance Yogyakarta GA Triga 100 kW 1979 Operation Serpong Interatom MTR 30 MW 1987 Operation Since May 1996 United State Department of Energy (US DOE) through Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on a Proposed Nuclear Weapon Nonproliferation Policy opened opportunity to all research reactor owners to send back their spent nuclear fuel and uranium target of US Origin to America for period of time 10 years. BATAN took this opportunity for the first time by shipping 47 fuel elements and 1 plate of MTR type spent nucler fuel in March 1999 from Serpong reactor, under Contract No. DE-G109-99-SR18920. Djarot S. Wisnubroto: Strategy on the Spent Nuclear Fuel Management of the Research Reactors in Indonesia 18 The second opportunity was on 2004 by repatriating 111 spent nucler fuel and 1 plate from RSG GAS, 71 spent nucler fuel from Yogyakarta reactor site, and 111 spent nuclear fuel from Bandung reactor site [3]. That repatriation program was extended, and the last activity was on 2009, BATAN send back the US origin 42 spent nuclear fuel from RSG GAS[4]. This repatriation program may be extended and is expected to end in 2016, and it is estimated that all of the spent nuclear fuel from the two TRIGA reactors (Bandung and Yogyakarta) will be re-exported to US on that year. All of the fuels for the Serpong Reactor are fabricated in Indonesia by PT. Batan Technology (a state owned company established by Batan), and some of the recent uranium, mostly after 2001,originates from other countries than the United States, so BATAN has to manage that spent fuels including studies and prepare for the long term storage management. This paper shows the analysis of current situation on the spent nuclear fuel generation and its management, future prediction, and programs that have to be done.