TY - CONF A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Nagelschmidt, Sven T1 - Understanding the long-term behavior of sealing systems and neutron shielding material for extended dry cask storage N2 - In Germany, the concept of dry interim storage in dual purpose metal casks before disposal is being pursued for spent nuclear fuel (SF) and high active waste (HAW) management. However, since there is no repository available today, the initially planned and established dry interim storage license duration of up to 40 years will be too short and its extension will become necessary. For such a storage license extension it is required to assess the long-term performance of SF and all safety related storage system components in order to confirm the viability of extended storage. The main safety relevant components are the thick-walled dual purpose metal casks. These casks consist of a monolithic cask body with integrated neutron shielding components (polymers, e.g. polyethylene) and a monitored double lid barrier system with metal and elastomeric seals. The metal seals of this bolted closure system guarantee the required leak-tightness whereas the elastomeric seals allow for leakage rate measurement of the metal seals. This paper presents an update on running long-term tests on metal seals at different temperatures under static conditions over longer periods of time. In addition, first results of our approach to understand the aging behavior of different elastomeric seals and neutron radiation shielding material polyethylene are discussed. T2 - PSAM 12 - Probabilistic safety assessment and management CY - Honolulu, Hawaii, USA DA - 22.06.2014 KW - Extended storage KW - Dual purpose casks KW - Metal seals KW - Elastomeric seals KW - Neutron shielding material PY - 2014 SP - 1 EP - 9 AN - OPUS4-32072 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Droste, Bernhard A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Rolle, Annette A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Schubert, Sven T1 - Consideration of aging mechanism influence on transport safety of dual purpose casks for spent nuclear fuel of HLW N2 - When storage of spent nuclear fuel or high level waste is carried out in dual purpose casks (DPC), the effects of aging on safety relevant DPC functions and properties have to be managed in a way that a safe transport after the storage period of several decades is capable and can be justified and certified permanently throughout that period. The effects of aging mechanisms (e.g. radiation, different corrosion mechanisms, stress relaxation, creep, structural changes and degradation) on the transport package design safety assessment features have to be evaluated. Consideration of these issues in the DPC transport safety case will be addressed. Special attention is given to all cask components that cannot be directly inspected or changed without opening the cask cavity, like the inner parts of the closure system and the cask internals, like baskets or spent fuel assemblies. The design criteria of that transport safety case have to consider the operational impacts during storage. Aging is not the subject of technical aspects only but also of ‘intellectual’ aspects, like changing standards, scientific/technical knowledge development and personal as well as institutional alterations. Those aspects are to be considered in the management system of license holders and in appropriate design approval update processes. The paper addresses issues that are subject of an actual International Atomic Energy Agency TECDOC draft 'Preparation of a safety case for a dual purpose cask containing spent nuclear fuel'. KW - Transport KW - Storage KW - Spent fuel KW - High-level waste KW - Aging KW - Metal seals KW - Transport and storage casks KW - Spent nuclear fuel KW - Aging mechanisms KW - Corrosion KW - Safety assessment PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1179/1746510914Y.0000000070 SN - 1746-5095 SN - 1746-5109 SN - 0957-476X VL - 25 IS - 3-4 SP - 105 EP - 112 PB - Ramtrans Publ. CY - Ashford AN - OPUS4-33428 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Droste, Bernhard A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Rolle, Annette A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Schubert, Sven T1 - Considerations of aging mechanisms influence on transport safety and reliability of dual purpose casks for spent nuclear fuel or HLW N2 - When storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) or high-level waste (HLW) is done in dual purpose casks (DPC), the effects of aging on safety relevant DPC functions and properties have to be managed in a way that a safe transport after the storage period of several decades is capable, and can be justified and certified permanently throughout that period. The effects of aging mechanisms (like e.g. radiation, different corrosion mechanisms, stress relaxation, creep, structural changes and degradation) on the transport package design safety assessment features have to be evaluated. The consideration of these issues in the DPC transport safety case will be addressed. Special attention is given to all cask components which cannot be directly inspected or changed without opening the cask cavity, what are the inner parts of the closure system and the cask internals, like baskets or spent fuel assemblies. The design criteria of that transport safety case have to consider the operational impacts during storage. Aging is not subject of technical aspects only, but also of 'intellectual' aspects, like changing standards, scientific/ technical knowledge development and personal as well as institutional alterations. Those aspects are to be considered in the management system of the license holders and in appropriate design approval update processes. The paper addresses issues which are subject of an actual IAEA TECDOC draft 'Preparation of a safety case for a dual purpose cask containing spent nuclear fuel'. T2 - PSAM 12 - Probabilistic safety assessment and management CY - Honolulu, Hawaii, USA DA - 22.06.2014 KW - Transport and storage casks for spent nuclear fuel or high level waste KW - Aging mechanisms KW - Corrosion KW - Safety assessment KW - Metal seals KW - Closure system KW - Spent fuel/high-level waste KW - Dual purpose casks KW - Metal seals reliability KW - Cesium corrosion PY - 2014 UR - http://psam12.org/proceedings/paper/paper_180_1.pdf SP - 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-32518 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Shirai, K. A1 - Namba, K. A1 - Wataru, M. A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Schulz, Sebastian T1 - Numerical evaluation of the long-term sealing performance of the silver gasket for dual purpose metal cask under high temperature N2 - It is important to evaluate the effect of thermal ageing on the sealing performance of metal gaskets under high temperature for long-term usage. Therefore, in order to gain representative data for this kind of metal-sealed lid System, BAM is currently performing laboratory tests of different gasket types with aluminum and silver jackets at three different temperatures under static conditions up to four years so far, using test flanges for gaskets with full scale cross section diameter but much smaller outer diameter. On the other hand, in order to investigate the applicability of the numerical methodology to evaluate the long-term behavior of the metal gaskets, such as a correlation between seal pressure force and holding time, CRIEPI is developing a modeling method including material tests (tensile and creep tests) at high temperature. In this paper, the applicability of the finite element method (ABAQUS) to predict the recovery displacement and residual seal pressure force of the gasket complex was verified by comparing the calculated values with BAM’s laboratory test results under the joint research agreement between BAM and CRIEPI. T2 - PATRAM 2013 - 17th International symposium on the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials CY - San Francisco, CA, USA DA - 18.08.2013 KW - Metal seals KW - Extended storage KW - Long-term storage KW - Dual purpose cask PY - 2013 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Omnipress AN - OPUS4-31947 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Hagenow, Peter A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Wossidlo, Peter A1 - Abbasi, Behboud A1 - Achelpöhler-Schulte, Andreas A1 - Schulz, Sebastian T1 - Investigation of seal effects according to axial compression variation of metal seals for transport and storage casks N2 - Casks for the transport and storage of heat generating radioactive waste in Germany are normally provided with screwed lid systems, which are in most cases equipped with double jacket metal seals with an inner spring wire to provide long term resistance to the seal compression force. Preservation of the high sealing quality of those seals under operational and accidental stress conditions is essentially important to the safety of those casks. Relative displacements of the lid system surfaces caused by specific impact scenarios cannot be excluded and have to be evaluated with respect to a possible increase in the leakage rate. To get representative data for such metal sealed lid systems, BAM has developed a special conceptualised flange system placed in an appropriate testing machine for relevant mechanical loading of the metal seals under static and cyclic conditions. Furthermore, the flange system enables continuous measurement of the standard helium leakage rate during each test. The primary aim of the investigation is to identify the correlation between variation of installation conditions (axial displacements) caused by external loads and the standard helium leakage rate. An essential parameter in this case is the useable resilience ru of a metal seal under relevant stress conditions. The useable resilience ru is the vertical difference in the cross-section between the seal's assembling status and the point where the leakage rate, by means of external load relieving, exceeds the quality criterion of 10-8 Pa m3 s-1. Load relieving can instantly occur due to modification of the seal groove dimension caused by accident impacts and deformation of the lid system. Furthermore, component specific basis data for the development of finite element calculation models should be collected. In the tests, seals are subjected to static and cyclic loads. All tests are performed at ambient temperature. This paper presents the test configuration, different test series and results of the current experiments. Typical load-displacement-leakage rate correlations are presented and discussed. KW - Seal effects KW - Axial compression variation KW - Metal seals KW - Helium leakage rate KW - Cyclic load PY - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1179/174651008X278948 SN - 1746-5095 SN - 1746-5109 SN - 0957-476X VL - 19 IS - 1 SP - 47 EP - 52 PB - Ramtrans Publ. CY - Ashford AN - OPUS4-17540 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Aging management for long-term interim storage casks N2 - The aging management system for the mechanical components of nuclear power plants (NPPs) must be established and used by the licensee in such a way that the quality of safety relevant components is guaranteed for the completely designed lifetime of the NPP. This demands an extensive plant life management with special emphases on the knowledge of the degradation in material properties. The basic safety concept in Germany observes this circumstance. Lifetime extension of the German NPPs is an aim of the current valid coalition agreement of the German government. Operational extension of interim storage facilities requires, in comparison to the aging management system for NPP, an aging management system adapted to the Special circumstances of spent fuel storage casks. Extension of interim storage periods for spent fuel casks beyond the designed lifetime requires, in comparison to the components of an NPP, an increasing knowledge of material degradation with potential impact on cask integrity, e.g. leak tightness. Dry interim storage in Germany has been approved for 40 years. After that time, according to the present strategy, a final repository should be available. However, until now, such a final facility still does not exist, and the German exploration and licensing process is heavily delayed. Currently, discussions are continuing regarding further exploration of the Gorleben salt mine. There is willingness to overcome this situation that is clearly described in the available coalition agreement of the federal government. Anyway, however, the prediction is viewed; a repository for heat generating radioactive waste in Germany will not be available in the near future and may not be available when first storage facilities and casks reach their 40 years of approved lifetime, which will occur in ~25 years starting from now. Therefore, the question must be asked: what has to be done with the existing storage casks in the interim facilities? May these casks be fit for continued use, with an extension of the storage period? One option is to have an aging management system, which creates enough information about the technical condition of safety relevant cask properties. This is the basis for safety evaluation for extended storage periods. In the present paper, possible aging mechanisms for high level waste storage casks are discussed, as well as the influence of the time dependent changes of the component properties. KW - Long term interim storage KW - Storage casks KW - Aging mechanisms KW - Degradation mechanisms KW - Metal seals KW - Larson-Miller parameter PY - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1179/1746510910Y.0000000013 SN - 1746-5095 SN - 1746-5109 SN - 0957-476X VL - 22 IS - 1 SP - 46 EP - 53 PB - Ramtrans Publ. CY - Ashford AN - OPUS4-23890 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -