In Canada AECL has been a leader in nuclear waste management with over 50 years’ experience managing generation, handling, storage and disposal on many nuclear sites including 20 years’ managing Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program.

This product line includes AECL’s MACSTOR® and silo/canister technologies for spent fuel storage, fuel handling equipment design, supply, robotics engineering analysis including 3D modeling and simulation of engineered solutions and processes, and expert third party review and verification of used fuel storage systems engineering designs and processes.

Used fuel generated at nuclear reactor sites is initially stored in spent fuel bays to remove latent heat. As there is not yet a final destination for the spent fuel it must eventually be moved to interim dry storage facilities to make room in the fuel bays for fresh spent fuel.

AECL has developed a line of products, starting with products to store prototype reactor fuel, to address this problem, and has or is in the process of deploying it at all CANDU 6 sites.

Some of the specific services/products AECL can offer in this area include:

• Canisters / Silos for Dry Spent Used Fuel Storage Systems
• Vault – MACSTOR for Dry Spent Used Fuel Storage Systems
• Fuel Handling Equipment
• Shielded Welding Work Station
• Engineering Consulting

MACSTOR^®
AECL developed MACSTOR (Modular Air-Cooled STORage) to provide on-site storage of dry spent fuel for CANDU utility customers around the world. Based on passive physics and engineering principles, MACSTOR modules provide highly efficient heat-rejection and shielding. MACSTOR can save up to one-third of the space required by comparable systems, while reducing manpower and operating and construction costs. In addition, MACSTOR permits easy fuel retrieval at the time of final disposal. MACSTOR modules are currently installed and operating at Gentilly 2 in Quebec and at the Cernavoda site in Romania. AECL’s new, more space efficient and economical version MACSTOR400^® product can accommodate spent fuel on a smaller footprint at sites where real estate is at a premium.