Interim Spent Fuel Store meaning

An interim spent fuel store is a facility, usually on a licensed nuclear site, used to hold spent nuclear fuel temporarily so it can cool pending disposal. It provides cooling and shielding, is intended for decades-long storage, and is not a final disposal facility. The expression is descriptive, not generally defined in legislation or case law, but widely used in nuclear site licensing, environmental permitting and planning across the UK and Ireland. In the UK, construction and operation require a nuclear site licence from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (Nuclear Installations Act 1965), an environmental permit for radioactive substances from the relevant regulator (EA, NRW, SEPA or NIEA), and compliance with nuclear security law. In England and Wales, such facilities are often authorised within a Development Consent Order under the Planning Act 2008; Scotland and Northern Ireland use their own planning regimes. Ireland has no nuclear power stations; the EPA regulates radioactive materials. Practically, an interim store keeps spent fuel in dry (or, less commonly, wet) storage until suitable for transport and disposal to a geological disposal facility (GDF), or otherwise managed in line with policy.