Risk Management and Emergency Preparedness for Spent Fuel Dry Storage in Nuclear Facilities: A UAE Case Study

The long-term safety of spent nuclear fuel dry cask storage depends on environmental conditions, ageing behavior, and emergency preparedness capability. While dry cask storage systems have demonstrated robust performance in temperate climates, limited research integrates climatic severity, degradation prioritization, and emergency preparedness within arid coastal environments. This study develops a climate-informed safety assessment framework for prospective dry cask storage deployment at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, United Arab Emirates. The methodology integrates (I) environmental hazard characterization, (II) degradation mechanism mapping, (III) semi-quantitative risk scoring, and (IV) emergency preparedness evaluation. Site-specific stressors, were analyzed against experimentally established degradation thresholds. Five principal mechanisms were assessed: chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking, thermal creep of fuel cladding, seal ageing, ventilation blockage, and coating degradation. Results indicate that chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking and thermal creep represent dominant risk under climatic conditions of the United Arab Emirates due to temperature-dependent corrosion kinetics and reduced thermal margins. Moderate risks are associated with seal degradation and dust-related ventilation impairment. Emergency preparedness assessment reveals operational constraints driven by heat stress, reduced visibility, and particulate interference, particularly affecting on-site response logistics and protective action implementation. The findings demonstrate that extreme environmental conditions function simultaneously as ageing accelerators and emergency response constraints. A unified, climate-informed risk framework is therefore essential to align ageing management, inspection strategies, and emergency preparedness planning for dry storage deployment in desert coastal regions.