The back end encompasses all aspects related to spent fuel once it has left nuclear reactors, such as transporting spent fuel elements from power plants to reprocessing facilities for recycling and transporting the resulting products from reprocessing. Alternatively, if the once-through approach is taken, spent fuel is transported to temporary storage facilities until its final disposal. Additionally, radioactive waste from operations and decommissioning of nuclear power plants are transported to either recycling facilities or final disposal sites.

This fact sheet primarily focuses on the transportation of spent fuel and high-level waste (HLW).

We extend our gratitude to the WNTI Back-end Transport Working Group members for their valuable contributions in revising this publication.