Licensing of away-from-reactor (AFR) installations

Storage of spent fuel at Away-From-Reactor (AFR) installations will allow reactors to continue to operate until reprocessing or other fuel disposal means are available. AFR installations must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Although wide experience in licensing reactors exists, the licensing of an AFR installation is a relatively new activity. Only one has been licensed to date. This paper delineates the requirements for licensing an AFR installation and projects a licensing schedule. Because the NRC is developing specific AFR requirements, this schedule is based primarily on draft NRC documents. The major documents needed for an AFR license application are similar to those for a reactor. They include: a Safety Analysis Report (SAR), and Environmental Report (ER), safeguards and security plans, decommissioning plans, proposed technical specifications, and others. However, the licensing effort has one major difference in that for AFR installations it will be a one-step effort, with follow-up, rather than the two-step process used for reactors. The projected licensing schedule shows that the elapsed time between filing an application and issuance of a license will be about 32 months, assuming intervention. The legal procedural steps will determine the time schedule and will override considerations of technical complexity. A license could be issued in about 14 months in the absence of intervention