Is Dry Cask Storage Safer Than Pool Storage?
Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is stored either in pools of water designed to hold the SNF or in large, concrete enclosures called dry casks. The NRC provides requirements for the safe and secure storage of the SNF and based on satisfying those requirements, issues a license for SNF storage. Either method of storage is safe. However, SNF fuel requires a degree of cooling which is dependent on the time passed since it was removed from the reactor: the longer the time out of the reactor, the less cooling required.SNF pools cool the fuel by circulating cool water throughout the pool, which requires a system of pipes, valves, and pumps. Dry cask storage also provides cooling but in a passive way by using natural convection which requires no pipes, valves, or pumps. All things being equal, passive systems (natural convection in this case) have advantages over active systems (mechanical pumps) that accomplish the same function of cooling.
