Disposal of post-irradiation fuel from nuclear reactors has been an issue for the nuclear industry for many years. Most countries currently have no long-term disposal strategy in place. Therefore, the concept of an intermediate nuclear spent fuel storage facility has been introduced as a method of temporarily storing the spent fuel in a central location until long-term disposal of the spent nuclear fuel is made available. General criteria that can be used to compare potential international sites for an intermediate nuclear spent fuel storage facility have been identified and elucidated. Those criteria were then utilized to compare four potential international intermediate nuclear spent fuel storage facility (IINSFSF) sites. Two of the sites are in Russia (one in the area of the old nuclear city of Krasnoyarsk-26 currently known as Zheleznogorsk and one on Sakhalin Island in the area of the town of Kholmsk), one is in China (in the area of the town of Xilinhot in the Nei Mongol province) and one in Australia (in the area of the city of Meekatharra in Western Australia). Safety and safeguard regulations for nuclear facilities were reviewed and appropriate portions that could be applied to a potential IINSFSF are recommended. An analysis was conducted to determine legal issues pertinent to an IINSFSF and a brief, limited overview of the most important legal issues is presented. The effects that nuclear fuels subjected to higher burnups (than practiced now) will have on dry cask storage was examined and recommendations for storage strategies are proposed.
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