In September a highly significant event took place at the Temelin NPP, in the Czech Republic – the first spent fuel container was placed in interim storage there. To mark the occasion, CEZ sent the following press release, which generated considerable subsequent press coverage.

First spent fuel container has been placed in interim storage at Temelín

CASTOR, the spent fuel container was loaded to the prepared interim storage facility at the nuclear power plant site on Wednesday 8 September. It is the first container to be filled and placed in storage at the power plant. Such a handling procedure will now be a part of every outage of the Temelín NPP units.

“In terms of construction, technology and legislation the storage is prepared to start the annual trial operation. We shall place one or two spent fuel containers from every unit to the storage every year,” says Miloš Štěpanovský, director of the Temelín NPP. “Two containers contain spent fuel, which produced 7 billion kWh of electrical power during one campaign. The volume of two CASTOR containers used at the Temelín NPP is only a total of 46 m³.”

Due to the fact that a nuclear power plant does not produce any emissions of carbon dioxide during production, such an amount of electricity means savings of 7 million tons of this greenhouse gas.

The storage capacity is 1,370 tons of uranium, which represents spent fuel for the 30-year operation of the Temelín NPP. Such an amount of fuel fits in 152 CASTOR containers placed in storage halls. The CASTOR containers were manufactured and delivered by GNS, the German manufacturer. “Placing the spent fuel in storage containers is the most frequent way of storing spent fuel. It is a safe and controlled technology without any effect on the environment. In the Czech Republic we have already had 15 years of experience with this type of storage from the Dukovany NPP, where two storage containers have been in operation.” Jan Coufal, Manager of the ČEZ Spent Fuel Storage project team describes his experience of spent fuel storage.

Nineteen fuel assemblies fit in every container used at the Temelín NPP. These steel containers create the main barrier between spent fuel and the environment “They are strictly tested before use and their quality is consequently certified by the issue of a licence by the State Office for Nuclear Safety which permits their use in the Czech Republic”  Mr. Coufal adds.

Spent fuel can be kept in the containers for up to 60 years. Spent fuel reprocessing technologies are already known in the world. According to the valid State Energy Concept, the Czech Republic takes the line of temporary storage as a way of permanent repository. The ČEZ company does not consider spent fuel to be a waste product, but a precious power source which can be reused in future, not kept in a repository. “Just four per cent of fuel is used in the reactor. Therefore, we can see spent fuel as having an important power potential for the future. Reprocessing technology already exists to enable spent fuel to be reused. In Europe such technology has already been used in France and England. Its high cost prevents its extension. Due to the estimated rise of uranium prices on world markets such technology will become an interesting alternative for power companies” Miloš Štěpanovský, Director of the nuclear power plant, explains the possibility of the further use of spent fuel.

The spent fuel interim storage unit is a reinforced concrete building, which consists of a receiving and storage section. The storage building is resistant to "external extreme natural effects" (seismicity). A hypothetical crash of a large airplane has been analysed within the EIA process. From the conclusions drawn no radiation accident should arise.

The plan to build spent fuel storage on the premises of the Temelín nuclear power plant has gone through a very difficult procedure, in which the neighbouring countries of Austria and Germany have also been involved for the first time in history. During the legislative proceedings the Ministry of Environment issued a positive EIA opinion. The State Office for Nuclear Safety permitted the construction in terms of nuclear safety. A special expert committee of the European Union also assessed the storage. The investor was awarded positive opinions in all administrative actions. ČEZ received the final building permit in February 2009, i.e. after 5.5 years of administrative preparations. The length of permit procedures for similar projects in the Czech Republic is among the longest ones within the European Union. For example, an approval process for a nuclear power plant in Flamanville took less than two years.

History of the permit procedure of the Spent Fuel Storage at Temelín NPP

  Marek Sviták
Press Agent of the ČEZ Group
Temelín Nuclear Power Plant