DOE plans webinar on transportation for spent nuclear fuel project

The National Transportation Stakeholders Forum will hold a webinar on June 18 to discuss the Department of Energy’s High Burnup Research Cask project.

The DOE’s High Burnup Research Cask (HBURC) project centers around a container of spent nuclear fuel that holds high burnup fuel. High burnup fuel comes from nuclear fuel kept in a nuclear reactor longer to produce more electricity.

The webinar will discuss the project and DOE’s efforts to transport the cask. Efforts to coordinate with federal, state and tribal government partners and technical assistance and emergency responses will be discussed as well.

The DOE is researching how high burnup spent nuclear fuel behaves in long-term storage as the agency deciphers how to ensure the fuel can be stored safely for a long period prior to being moved to a federal disposal facility.

In the next stage of the project, the DOE is trying to further investigate the fuel rods inside of the HBURC. This part of the project requires the agency to use one of its national laboratories.

DOE said it plans to move the cask from its current location of Dominion North Anna Power Station in Mineral, Va. to the Idaho National Laboratory in 2027.

The HBURC project began in 2013 as a collaboration between DOE and the Electric Power Research Institute to support safe storage of spent nuclear fuel, according to DOE’s HBURC May 2025 update.

National Transportation Stakeholders Forum is a tool the DOE uses to communicate with stakeholders and discuss the agency’s shipments of nuclear waste and materials.

Information on the webinar is available here.