Status of storage and next shipment of spent fuel from the RECH-1 reactor

The RECH-1 research reactor is a pool type reactor with a nominal power of 5 MW and is operated by the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission at La Reina Nuclear Center. The emphasis of the utilization of the reactor is placed on physics beam experiments, in-core experiments, neutron irradiation, radioisotopes production and activation analysis. A total of 58 HEU MTR type fuel elements were fabricated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Dounreay, Scotland, using uranium enriched in the United States. Within the framework of the Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance Program of the United States the spent fuel is being transferred to Savannah River Site in South Carolina. On September 22, 1996 a shipping cask loaded at La Reina Nuclear Center with 28 spent fuel elements arrived to Savannah River Site. The remaining 30 fuel elements that are decaying in the reactor pool could be delivered during the second semester of 2001.