At the 2005 Almaty workshop, specialists from the IAEA, Brazil, France, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, USA and Uzbekistan discussed safety-related issues of storing spent nuclear fuel. Fifteen papers were presented that dealt with aluminium-clad fuel discharged from research reactors worldwide, five papers were concerned with stainless steel-clad fuel from fast reactors, and two were devoted to Zircaloy-clad fuel from commercial light-water reactors.Although most attention was focused on fuel behaviour in storage pools, many countries - owing to lack of space - are beginning to dry store' spent fuel in an inert atmosphere in shielded casks. Both topics were covered thoroughly at the workshop. Water quality and dryness of the spent fuel, respectively, are critical factors in avoiding material degradation for the two storage modes...

This book contains papers from a NATO-sponsored workshop in Almaty in September 2005, which discussed safety-related issues of storing spent nuclear fuel. Fifteen papers cover aluminum-clad fuel discharged from research reactors worldwide, while five papers examine stainless steel-clad fuel from fast reactors, and two Zircaloy-clad fuel from commercial light-water reactors.