The incidence of damage to nuclear fuel assemblies during their time in the reactor core has been trending down steadily over the years as improved materials, designs and operational conditions have been developed and used. Nevertheless, a small fraction of commercial nuclear fuel assemblies may still be damaged during its burn in the reactor. However, Holtec’s dry storage and transport systems have the ability to safely store and transport used nuclear fuel that is considered damaged. In fact, Holtec’s dry storage systems are already safely storing damaged used fuel in various locations right now.
Even though the plant owner knows the state of its fuel in wet storage, prior to placing a used fuel assembly into dry storage, each fuel assembly is inspected for damage. If an assembly is damaged, additional special packaging is used for that assembly within the dry storage system.