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Spent Nuclear Fuel

Release date: March 30, 2021
Next release date: December 2024

Table 3. Annual commercial spent fuel discharges and burnup, 1968–2017
  Number of assemblies a Initial uranium content (MTU) Average burnup (GWDt/MTU)
All discharged assemblies
Year BWR PWR Total BWR PWR Total BWR PWR
1968 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
1969 94 0 94 9.6 0.0 9.6 16.7 0
1970 29 99 128 5.6 39.0 44.6 0.3 18.4
1971 408 101 509 64.0 39.9 103.9 8.3 25.7
1972 765 251 1,016 140.9 88.0 228.9 6.8 23.3
1973 539 166 705 90.1 67.5 157.5 13.2 24.1
1974 1,277 571 1,848 239.8 206.0 445.9 13.1 18.4
1975 1,221 790 2,011 225.6 318.7 544.3 17.1 18.2
1976 1,664 921 2,585 297.6 396.2 693.8 13.6 22.4
1977 2,047 1,092 3,139 382.8 460 842.8 17.0 25.2
1978 2,239 1,665 3,904 383.7 698.3 1,082.0 19.8 26.3
1979 2,131 1,635 3,766 399.8 708.8 1,108.6 22.5 27.1
1980 3,330 1,456 4,786 619.9 617.6 1,237.5 22.5 29.8
1981 2,467 1,547 4,014 458.7 658.3 1,117.0 24.1 30.3
1982 1,949 1,498 3,447 356.8 640.3 997.1 24.9 29.7
1983 2,646 1,771 4,417 481.8 769.1 1,250.8 27.1 30.3
1984 2,736 1,933 4,669 497.8 839.4 1,337.2 25.9 29.5
1985 2,989 2,033 5,022 542.6 859.3 1,402.0 23.6 32
1986 2,551 2,255 4,806 457.7 979.3 1,436.9 21.1 30.8
1987 3,316 2,567 5,883 596.2 1,096.3 1,692.5 22.7 31.5
1988 2,956 2,574 5,530 535.3 1,093.8 1,629.1 24.5 33.7
1989 3,803 2,719 6,522 691.8 1,184.6 1,876.4 22.4 32.7
1990 3,751 3,434 7,185 681.0 1,480.3 2,161.3 25.4 34.6
1991 2,926 2,804 5,730 527.1 1,218.6 1,745.8 28.2 35.7
1992 3,932 3,578 7,510 713.1 1,542.8 2,255.9 28.9 36.8
1993 3,763 3,401 7,164 678.0 1,477.0 2,155.1 30.3 39.2
1994 3,776 2,746 6,522 676.0 1,176.0 1,852.0 33.2 40.4
1995 4,391 3,736 8,127 780.6 1,626.0 2,406.5 32.8 40.9
1996 4,663 3,532 8,195 827.4 1,512.5 2,339.9 35.2 39.1
1997 3,850 3,336 7,186 673.7 1,475.6 2,149.3 35.5 40.6
1998 3,816 2,157 5,973 665.3 930.8 1,596.1 36.2 44.1
1999 4,320 3,552 7,872 752.3 1,555.5 2,307.8 35.7 44.2
2000 4,603 3,122 7,725 800.4 1,368.0 2,168.4 38.3 44.9
2001 3,617 2,892 6,509 623.7 1,268.4 1,892.1 40.1 45.5
2002 4,148 3,766 7,914 717.6 1,630.0 2,347.5 40.2 46.0
2003 4,584 3,585 8,169 792.9 1,572.0 2,364.9 39.5 46.4
2004 4,431 2,669 7,100 765.2 1,165.6 1,930.8 42.8 46.9
2005 4,075 3,705 7,780 707.0 1,626.0 2,333.0 42.8 46.6
2006 3,995 3,516 7,511 698.4 1,536.2 2,234.6 43.1 46.9
2007 4,574 2,768 7,342 805.8 1,228.7 2,034.5 43.3 46.9
2008 4,480 3,536 8,016 795.5 1,542.5 2,338.0 43.1 47.2
2009 4,389 3,672 8,061 776.1 1,613.6 2,389.7 45.1 46.5
2010 4,615 2,836 7,451 820.5 1,242.1 2,062.6 44.3 46.8
2011 4,104 3,610 7,714 728.1 1,585.6 2,313.7 45.1 46.8
2012 4,474 3,683 8,157 796.1 1,614.7 2,410.8 45.0 44.6
2013 4,190 2,723 6,913 743.3 1,197.4 1,940.7 44.8 45.6
2014 4,594 3,458 8,052 823.0 1,516.4 2,339.4 44.1 47.0
2015 4,124 3,491 7,615 733.8 1,538.7 2,272.5 45.9 46.7
2016 4,177 2,764 6,941 749.3 1,219.9 1,969.2 45.2 46.3
2017 4,162 3,482 7,644 748.1 1,526.5 2,274.6 46.4 46.2
Total 157,681 119,198 276,879 28,077.3 51,747.8 79,825.1 34.9 40.5
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form GC-859, Nuclear Fuel Data Survey (2018)
Notes: This table shows only assemblies reported on the Form GC-859, which includes only spent nuclear fuel discharged from commercial reactors and currently stored at commercial sites. Totals may not equal sum of components because of independent rounding. Average burnup totals are weighted.
BWR = Boiling-water reactor; PWR = Pressurized-water reactor; MTU = Metric tons of uranium; and GWDt/MTU = Gigawatt days thermal per metric ton of uranium
More spent fuel tables:
Table 1. U.S. spent nuclear fuel discharged and stored at commercial sites
Table 2. Nuclear power plant data as of December 31, 2017