Nearly 2100 metric tons of metallic uranium spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are stored in two water-filled pools-the K-Basins-in the 100-K Area at Hanford. The Spent Nuclear Fuel Project is resolving the safety and environmental issues associated with continued wet storage of the deteriorating SNF in these basins. The project's fuel-handling process involves preparing, loading, and transporting fuel for drying and subsequent storage in canisters, pending suitable repository disposal. Scrap generated from October to July, 2001, while washing the SNF to prepare it for cold vacuum drying, differed significantly from that envisioned during project design. This raised the issue that the geometric reactive surface area of particles of uranium in the scrap could be higher than allowed for the baseline process. Therefore, Fluor Hanford convened a technical review panel to evaluate the new information about the physical characteristics of scrap generated during processing. The technical review began after K-Basin staff tested the process by retrieving, weighing, and photographing the scrap that they collected during the washing process.

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