TY - CONF A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Nieslony, Gregor A1 - Noack, Volker A1 - Hagenow, Peter A1 - Kovacs, Oliver T1 - Current developments in container design testing for the Konrad repository N2 - The Konrad repository for not heat generating radioactive wastes was licensed first in 2002. But due to legal actions this license has not been finally confirmed before 2007. Subsequently, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) began scheduling backfitting of the former iron ore mine into a repository. The licensed repository volume is 303,000 m3 based on estimations of expected waste volumes to be disposed off although the mine itself would offer a much larger volume. Once the repository is ready for Operation, waste packages can be disposed, but this is not expected before the end of this decade. Nevertheless, there is already today a great interest in qualified and certified waste conditioning and packaging for disposal requiring Containers, tested, evaluated and certified by BAM and BfS. Key points of the Konrad license concern comprehensive requirements for waste products and Containers. Details are described in BfS reports, which constitute the basic documents for the license. Following the final license confirmation a revision of these documents has been requested in order to include considerations of water poisoning substances. This work is currently done by BfS in Cooperation with the NLWKN of Lower Saxony and the Institute for Safety Technology (ISTec). Concerning the specification for Containers themselves no or only minor changes are expected. T2 - KONTEC 2011 - 10. Internationales Symposium "Konditionierung radioaktiver Betriebs- und Stilllegungsabfälle" CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 06.04.2011 KW - Cask KW - Safety KW - Repository KW - Design testing KW - Radioactive waste PY - 2011 SP - 683 EP - 695 AN - OPUS4-23672 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Simbruner, Kai A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Analysis of Zirconium Hydride Structures in Spent Fuel Claddings Subjected to Storage Conditions N2 - Pre-storage drying and the early stage of storage can subject spent fuel claddings to higher temperatures and higher tensile hoop stresses than those associated with in-reactor operation. Under these conditions, existing circumferential hydrides in zirconium-based alloys can be partly reoriented into radial ones that may result in embrittlement of the cladding material. As a consequence, the failure limits may be reduced under mechanical loads caused by handling or during transport after storage. The potential occurrence of brittle fracture strongly depends on the specific location, size, and orientation of the zirconium hydrides. The morphology of such hydride structures was experimentally investigated in unirradiated, hydrogen-loaded samples made of a zirconium-based alloy. The hydrogen was introduced into the cladding sample by means of a cathodic charging process. The loading process was followed by a thermal treatment to precipitate the hydrides in the circumferential direction and then a thermomechanical treatment to reorient the hydrides in the radial direction. Metallographic methods were used to describe and classify the hydride morphology. The resulting metallographic micrographs were evaluated using suitable radial hydride metrics. The determination of the maximum length of a hydride structure was carried out in two different ways, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Both methods consider neighboring hydrides as continuous according to the definition of the Radial Hydride Continuity Factor (RHCF). The first option is to measure the Euclidean distance between the two most distant pixels of the hydride structure in the image analysis, whereby the actual maximum size of the hydride structure is determined. The second possibility is to measure the maximum size of a hydride or a hydride structure within a certain arc length in the radial direction of the cladding tube. This value is of particular interest because the ratio of the maximum radial size of a hydride structure to the wall thickness of the cladding tube is used for the safety assessment of spent fuel claddings with radial hydrides using the RHCF. T2 - 21st International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials - PATRAM 2025 CY - San Antonio, TX, USA DA - 27.07.2025 KW - Extended Interim Storage KW - Nuclear Fuel Cladding KW - Zirconium Hydride Structure KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Micrograph Analysis PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 8 CY - Indianapolis, IN, USA AN - OPUS4-63875 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Droste, Bernhard A1 - Wieser, Günter A1 - Gogolin, Bernd T1 - Extended brittle fracture safety demonstrations of cubic ductile cast iron containers T2 - PATRAM ´95 - 11th International Conference on the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials CY - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA DA - 1995-12-03 KW - Container KW - Sprödbruch PY - 1995 VL - 3 SP - 1356 EP - 1363 AN - OPUS4-614 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Cherkouk, Andrea A1 - Zajec, Bojan A1 - Debelle, Aurélien A1 - Alonso, Ursula A1 - Ganster, Patrick A1 - Generelo-Casajus, Lidia A1 - Merroun, Mohamed L. A1 - Morales-Hidalgo, Mar A1 - Pakarinen, Janne A1 - Rossignol, Fabrice A1 - Trentin, Andressa T1 - Durability of traditional and innovative disposal container materials and coatings: State-of-the-art and further research within InCoManD N2 - This document provides a consolidated state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge on containers designed to safely isolate heat-generating high-level radioactive waste in deep geological repositories (DGRs). These containers form a vital part of the multi-barrier safety system that ensures long-term protection of people and the environment. Their durability — especially their resistance to corrosion and mechanical stress — is essential, as they are expected to perform over time scales ranging from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years. The findings presented here are taken from recent research studies out of the EURAD programme and also from the EURAD-1 ConCorD project (Work Package 15, 2021–2024), which reviewed the performance of various container materials, including copper, carbon steel and silicon carbide. The report covers experimental results under relevant disposal conditions, the impact of manufacturing and sealing processes, and the current capabilities of modelling tools to simulate the complex underground environment in which these containers will operate. In addition to summarising knowledge on traditional materials, the document highlights recent progress and remaining challenges related to innovative ceramic-based containers. Key issues include ensuring effective sealing and mechanical integrity, particularly under harsh and evolving conditions over long periods. The report also emphasizes the importance of understanding how different environmental and mechanical factors interact to influence container degradation. Neither corrosion nor stress alone can fully explain long-term behaviour, and both must be studied together. Finally, this state-of-the-art sets the stage for future work, especially the EURAD-2 InCoManD project (Work Package 9), which will build on these findings to improve testing methods, refine models, and explore promising new materials and design solutions for safer and more reliable waste containment. Research activities within InCoManD are hence briefly described throughout this document. KW - Disposal container KW - Radioactive waste KW - Deep geological repository KW - Corrosion resistance KW - Durability PY - 2025 UR - https://www.ejp-eurad.eu/sites/default/files/2025-06/EURAD2_WP09_INCO_T02_01_D09.1_SOTA_0.pdf N1 - This document is a deliverable of the European Partnership on Radioactive Waste Management 2 (EURAD-2); EURAD-2 is co-funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement N°101166718. VL - Deliverable 9.1 SP - 1 EP - 60 PB - Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs (ANDRA) CY - Châtenay-Malabry AN - OPUS4-63303 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eisenacher, Germar A1 - Scheidemann, Robert A1 - Neumann, Martin A1 - Droste, Bernhard A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Dynamic crushing characteristics of spruce wood under large deformations N2 - An extensive series of large deformation crushing tests with spruce wood specimens was conducted. Material orientation, lateral constraint and loading rate were varied. Regarding material orientation, a reduction in the softening effect and the general force level was observed with a higher fiber-load angle. A comparison with characteristics gained by application of Hankinson's formula showed discrepancies in compression strength and the beginning of the hardening effect. Lateral constraint of the specimens caused a multiaxial stress state in the specimens, which was quantified with the applied measuring method. Further, a higher force level compared to specimens without lateral constraint and significant hardening effect at large deformations resulted. Thus, the influence of a multiaxial stress state on the force level could be determined. An increase in the loading rate led to higher force levels at any displacement value and material orientation. KW - Crushing test KW - Dynamic crushing characteristics KW - Spruce wood KW - Lateral constraint KW - Multiaxial stress state KW - Hankinson's formula PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-012-0508-5 SN - 0043-7719 SN - 1432-5225 VL - 47 IS - 2 SP - 369 EP - 380 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-27743 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Innovative Disposal Container Materials: Improved Durability and Manufacturing Feasibility N2 - Deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is the internationally preferred final waste management option to prevent the biosphere from radiologically relevant release of radioactive nuclides for at least 100,000 to 1 million years. Current repository concepts are based on a multi-barrier system consisting of geological, geo-technical and technical barriers as an engineered barrier system (EBS). Considered host rocks are e.g. crystalline rocks, claystone, or rock salt. In all cases disposal containers are a crucial technical barrier to safely enclose the HLW, either spent nuclear fuel (SNF) or vitrified high-level waste (VHLW) from reprocessing. Depending on the repository concept and the respective safety case disposal containers guarantee the safe confinement of their radioactive inventory not just during handling, emplacement, and potential retrieval but also during the post-closure phase of the repository for a certain period. Required container lifetimes usually vary between 1,000 and 100,000 years depending on the selected host rock and repository concept. During container operation and their long-term disposal, they are subject to various mechanical, thermal, radiological, and geo-chemical/biological loads. Thus, mechanical stability and corrosion resistance in the long-term are among the most crucial challenges. Disposal container components lifetimes are typically calculated based on their time-dependent corrosion behaviour, with the implicit assumption that the design remains structurally stable for the required period. Even though, the durability of several component materials subjected to corrosion processes have been previously studied in detail, the interaction of mechanical processes and corrosion calls for further study, and assessment of the impact of joint degradation modes on component lifetimes will result in a more robust and defensible safety case. Besides, as corrosion occurs in a thin interfacial surface layer between the component outermost surface and the environment, specific R&D work is required to understand the long-term performance controlled by the entire engineered barrier system (EBS) and to feed simulation and extrapolations tools by representative experimental data for validation. Another approach to tackle the corrosion issue is to prevent and/or minimize it, thereby ensuring an even safer disposal. In this approach, materials much less prone to corrosion (e.g., copper, ceramic materials) can be used to fabricate the containers. Alternatively, protective coatings (e.g. copper coating) can be applied to current selected reference materials like steels. Both ways require validation of the materials durability under realistic, accelerated field conditions. The InCoManD work package 9 (Innovative and new Container/canister materials under disposal field conditions), part of the EURAD-2 European Partnership on Radioactive Waste Management (2024 – 2029), will address these issues through a collaborative project involving many countries across Europe (and beyond) with a shared goal. Building on the results of the ConCorD work package 15 (Container Corrosion under Disposal Conditions), part of the EURAD-1 programme (2019 - 2024), the InCoManD work package specifically aims to: (i) provide a better understanding of material degradation mechanisms, (ii) define optimised and innovative material solutions, (iii) develop comprehensive predictive models and common methodologies to enhance confidence in the results produced by each partner, and (iv) train new scientists in this field. T2 - safeND 2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 17.09.2025 KW - Radioactive Waste Disposal KW - Disposal Container KW - Deep Geological Repository KW - Engineered Barrier System PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.5194/safend2025-40 AN - OPUS4-64254 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Bevilacqua, A. A1 - Alejano, C. A1 - Conde, J.M. A1 - Einziger, R.E. A1 - Fukuda, S.-I. A1 - González Espartero, A. A1 - Gouzy-Portaix, S. A1 - Haddad Andalaf, R.E. A1 - Hambley, D. A1 - Issard, H. A1 - Kessler, J. A1 - Kurpaska, L. A1 - Legat, A. A1 - Qureshi, A.H. A1 - Ruiz, J. A1 - Shirai, K. A1 - Šmaižys, A. A1 - Verrastro, C.A. ED - González Espartero, A. T1 - Demonstrating performance of spent fuel and related storage system components during very long term storage - Final report of a coordinated research project N2 - This publication summarizes the work carried out during an IAEA coordinated research project (CRP) on safe and reliabe management of spent nuclear fuel. This work contributes to the overall goal of demonstrating the performance of spent nuclear fuel and related storage systems components over long durations, and facilitates the transfer of this knowledge to Member States. The technical areas addressed by the CRP participants were related to potential degradation mechanisms in metal casks and concrete overpacks, such as stress corrosion cracking; long term integrity and performance of the fuel cladding; thermo-mechanical behaviour of the metal seals; and long term gamma and neutron shielding capability. The participants also considered past and ongoing demonstration programmes. For each technical topic addressed the main conclusions have been drawn, including information on the development of specific monitoring and inspection techniques as well as future opportunities for closing relevant data gaps. A major achievement is also the establishment of a worldwide network of experts working on current research projects to demonstrate the long term performance of spent fuel in dry storage systems. KW - Spent fuel KW - Storage system components KW - Very long term storage PY - 2019 UR - https://www.iaea.org/publications/13553/demonstrating-performance-of-spent-fuel-and-related-storage-system-components-during-very-long-term-storage SN - 978–92–0–103319–2 SN - 1011–4289 VL - 1878 SP - 1 EP - 198 PB - IAEA Publishing Section CY - Vienna, Austria AN - OPUS4-48519 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Simbruner, Kai A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Brittle failure of spent fuel claddings under long-term dry interim storage conditions – Preliminary analysis N2 - The evaluation of cladding integrity is a major issue to be demonstrated in Germany for extended interim storage periods up to 100 years and subsequent transportation considering operational and accidental conditions with respect to reactor operation, cask drying and dry interim storage. The chemical reaction between the zirconium fuel cladding and the cooling water in water-cooled reactors produces hydrogen and zirconium oxide. Hydrogen diffuses into the cladding and precipitates as zirconium hydrides when the solubility limit is reached, preferably oriented in hoop direction. At high temperatures during vacuum drying procedures, the hydrides can dissolve. Over a succeeding period of slow cooling with existing hoop stress the hydrides precipitate again, but partly reoriented along the radial direction of the cladding. This change of microstructure in combination with a decreasing temperature (0.5...2 K/year) during (extended) interim storage and additional mechanical load by handling procedures or under accident conditions could lead to a potential cladding embrittlement and consequently increased failure probability. The current research project BRUZL (Fracture mechanical analysis of spent fuel claddings under long-term dry interim storage conditions) has been launched by BAM to investigate potential sudden brittle failure of spent fuel claddings at small deformation under long-term dry interim storage conditions and is presented. T2 - IAEA International Conference on the Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 24.06.2019 KW - Ageing Management KW - Cladding Embrittlement KW - Extended Storage KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Nuclear Fuel PY - 2019 SP - Paper IAEA-CN-272/49, 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-48869 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Qiao, Linan A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Fracture mechanical analysis of a cylindrical cast iron cask N2 - The safety evaluation of cask components made of ductile cast iron includes investigations to prevent brittle fracture. Generally, ductile cast iron is endangered by brittle fracture especially at low temperatures (down to -40°C) and in combination with existing crack-like material defects. An applicable method is the assessment of fracture resistance using fracture mechanics according to the IAEA guidelines. The approach is based on the prevention of fracture initiation. For application of these principles for drop loads, account must be taken both of dynamic stresses within the component and dynamic material behavior. Basically, the dynamic stress intensity factor of postulated pre-existing crack-like defects is compared with the dynamic fracture toughness of the material. Applicable numerical and experimental methods for the safety assessment of cask components are demonstrated for the case of an artificially pre-cracked cylindrical cast iron cask which undergoes dynamic loading conditions as result of the hard impact between the cask and a concrete target. The proposed evaluation procedure is a combination of numerical and experimental steps. Exemplarily, the calculated stress intensity factor is compared with measured fracture toughness values from single edge notched bending specimens. T2 - 19th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2019) CY - New Orleans, LA, USA DA - 04.08.2019 KW - Ductile Cast Iron KW - Brittle Fracture KW - Cylindrical Cask PY - 2019 SP - Paper 1209, 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-48914 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Völzke, Holger ED - Stuke, M. T1 - Long-term evaluation of sealing systems for radioactive waste packages N2 - The investigation of the long-term performance of sealing systems employed in containers for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is one research focus area for division 3.4 “Safety of Storage Containers” at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM). Our investigations comprise investigations on metallic and elastomeric seals and covers experimental investigations to get a database on the component/material behaviour, work on analytical descriptions and numerical analysis. Our aim is to understand the long-term behaviour of the sealing systems for evaluation of their performance during possible extended interim storage and subsequent transportation. T2 - 3rd Workshop on Safety of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel CY - Garching, Germany DA - 05.06.2019 KW - Seal performance KW - Rubber seal KW - Metallic seal KW - Ageing PY - 2019 SP - 57 EP - 62 AN - OPUS4-48225 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Component and material investigations on metal seals for high level radioactive waste containers N2 - Long-term investigations performed at BAM look to extend the state of knowledge on safety-related components of interim storage containers. Metal seals act as the primary sealing barrier in the bolted double lid closure system of the containers. The behaviour of metal seals has been investigated for ageing times up to 8.5 years and for various temperatures. The main cause for reduction in useable resilience overtime was due to creep deformation of the outer jacket of the seal. KW - Metal seal KW - Radioactive waste containers KW - Creep KW - Long-term behaviour PY - 2018 SN - 1745-2058 SP - 32 EP - 34 PB - Nuclear Institute CY - London AN - OPUS4-48206 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Research at BAM on Metal Seal Performance and Fuel Rod Integrity N2 - The presentation provides an update on preliminary results from research projects in the area of long term performance of metal seals and fuel rod integrity as safety relevant components of spent fuel transport and storage casks for spent nuclear fuel. T2 - Extended Storage Collaboration Program (ESCP) Winter Meeting 2020 CY - Online meeting DA - 09.11.2020 KW - Metal seal KW - Safety KW - Interim storage KW - Spent nuclear fuel KW - Fuel rod PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51615 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weber, Mike A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Schulze, Dietmar T1 - Numerical simulation of the behaviour of elastomer seals under consideration of time dependent effects N2 - Due to delays in the site-selection procedure to establish a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and high level waste and in construction of the already licensed Konrad-repository for low and intermediate level waste without heat generation, extended periods of interim storage become more relevant in Germany. BAM is involved in most of the cask licensing procedures and especially responsible for the evaluation of cask-related long-term safety issues. The long-term performance of elastomer seals for lid Systems of transport and storage casks whether used as auxiliary seals in spent fuel caslcs or as primary seals for low and intermediate level waste packages is an important issue in this context (Jaunich, 2013; Jaunich, 2014; Kömmling, 2015). The polymeric structure of these seals causes a complex mechanical behaviour with time-dependent elasticity reduction and loss of elastic recovery. The paper presents first results of a comprehensive test Programme consisting of several static and dynamic mechanical short- and long-term tests which have been carried out at BAM on specimens made of representative types of elastomers, fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) and ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM). The investigation of the test results used to identify material models and their Parameters as well as the development of two finite element models for the numerical Simulation of tension and compression tests using the finite element code ABAQUS® are described. The calculation results are presented in comparison to the test results. The influence of important material and test parameters was investigated and discussed in sensitivity analyses. T2 - RAMTRANSPORT 2015 - International conference on the radioactive materials transport and storage CY - Oxford, UK DA - 19.05.2015 KW - Numerical analysis KW - Extended interim storage KW - Elastomer seals PY - 2015 SP - Session 4, Paper 28, 1 EP - 9 AN - OPUS4-33832 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Stark, Wolfgang A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Investigation of elastomer seal behavior for transport and storage packages N2 - Rubbers are widely used as main sealing materials for containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and as additional component to metal seals in spent fuel and high active waste containers. According to appropriate guidelines and regulations safe enclosure of the radioactive container contents has to be guaranteed for long storage periods as well as down to temperatures of -40 °C for transportation. Therefore the understanding of seal behavior is of high importance. In this paper we focus on the behavior of elastomer seals at low temperatures with regard to poten-tial decrease of leak-tightness. In addition, changes in material properties due to aging effects over long periods of time and their influence on the seal performance is investigated. It is known that material properties of rubbers are strongly temperature dependent. At low tempera-tures this is caused by the rubber-glass transition (abbr. glass transition). During continuous cool-ing, the material changes from rubber-like entropy-elastic to stiff energy-elastic behavior, that al-lows nearly no strain or retraction due to the glass transition. Hence rubbers are normally used above their glass transition but the minimum working temperature limit is not defined precisely. Aging of elastomer seals is important, as possible dynamic loads may have to be considered during the whole interim storage period (so far approved in Germany for up to 40 years) and for transporta-tion after storage. For the investigations, fluorocarbon (FKM) and ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) rubbers were selected as they are often used in radioactive waste containers. Some materials were purchased from a commercial seal producer and some materials were compounded and cured at BAM. The elastom-ers where studied by several thermo-analytical methods and compression set to characterize the material behavior at low temperatures. Additionally component tests were performed to determine the breakdown temperature of the sealing function of complete elastomer O-rings. T2 - PATRAM 2013 - 17th International symposium on the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials CY - San Francisco, CA, USA DA - 18.08.2013 PY - 2013 SP - Paper 227, 1 EP - 8 PB - Omnipress AN - OPUS4-30377 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Component and material investigations on metal seals for high level radioactive waste containers N2 - In Germany casks for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste are equipped with Helicoflex® metal seals as main sealing barrier of the double lid system. The long-term behaviour of those seals is investigated at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM) in order to evaluate the safety function of the containment at different temperatures over storage periods of 40 years or more in case extended interim storage becomes necessary. Long-term investigations have been done for ageing times of up to 8.5 years at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 150 °C. It was found that the seal force and useable resilience decrease over time, which is mainly caused by creep deformation of the aluminium (or silver) outer jacket of the seals. This effect becomes stronger with increasing temperature. The ageing processes of the seal material and the overall seal behaviour is under investigation in order to derive analytical descriptions for the long-term seal performance. Thus, standardized tests on the basic seal materials, with focus on aluminium, and additional investigations on the seals as a component are conducted. The current investigations include compression and tension creep measurements as well as tensile testing. Furthermore, ageing of seal segments provides information on the development of the contact area width, jacket thickness and microstructural changes in dependence of time and temperature. The obtained data are used for the development of material models and an analytical approach to describe and predict the time and temperature dependent sealing behaviour in the long-term. T2 - 11th International Conference on the Transport, Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Materials CY - London, UK DA - 15.05.2018 KW - Metal seal KW - Creep KW - Long-term behavior PY - 2018 SP - 18535, 1 EP - 6 AN - OPUS4-45452 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 - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Goral, Milan A1 - Sagradov, Ilja A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Aging investigations of metal seals used in containers for interim storage of spent fuel N2 - For bolted casks for used fuel and high level waste the sealing system has an important impact of ensuring safe enclosure of the inventory The used metal seals show some changes over time which have been addressed for nearly 15 years in running experiments at BAM The observed changes are temperature de pendent and therefore it is expected that test s at higher temperature allow for an acceleration of the effects and ideally the proposal of an ageing model covering the expected time of use . Nevertheless, questions concerning the influence of the experimental approach on the results and effects taking place at the initial days of ageing remain. To address these a new project was launched to give a better understanding of the seal behavior. T2 - PVP2024, Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference CY - Bellevue, WA, USA DA - 29.07.2024 KW - Metal seal KW - Aging KW - Interim storage PY - 2024 SN - 978-0-7918-8851-3 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - ASME AN - OPUS4-61357 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Hagenow, Peter A1 - Kasparek, Eva Maria A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Noack, Volker A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Requirements for the use of elastomer seals in casks for final disposal of low and intermediate level waste N2 - Elastomer seals are widely used as barrier seals in containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and in some countries for spent fuel transportation casks. Depending on the area of use, the rubber materials have to demonstrate proper sealing performance with regard to mechanical, thermal and environmental conditions as well as irradiation during the entire operation period. In Germany the low and intermediate level radioactive waste is planned to be disposed in the Konrad repository in standardized containers. Many of these containers use an elastomer seal between lid and container body. Depending on the radiactive inventory and a possible containment of the waste in inner barrels and/or concrete structures, such containers may require a specific leak tightness. In such cases, specified leakage rates are shall not be exceeded by the the seals to keep potential activity releases from the inventories well below defined limits. Generally, all waste containers have to fulfill the waste acceptance criteria for the Konrad repository as defined by the reports BfS SE-IB-29/08 and SE-IB-30/08. From these criteria several requirements for seal performance are derived. The seals have to: - ensure full functionality until final container disposal, - maintain its function in case of a thermal or mechanical accident, - ensure encapsulation also at -20 °C. This combination of requirements is challenging especially as a seal exchange, which is typical for many other applications, is hardly possible and thus a sound understanding of how to perform safety evaluation of containers is required. Therefore BAM has initiated investigations on elastomer seal behaviour. This work focuses on low temperature behaviour and sealing performance concerning static conditions as well as partial loss of compression and ageing of elastomer seals. Concerning ageing, property changes caused by long-term thermooxidative conditions as well as gamma irradiation are investigated. This contribution presents an overview and explanation of the aims of the ongoing research and gives an update of the most relevant results. T2 - 13th Internationales Symposium "Konditionierung radioaktiver Betriebs- und Stillegungsabfälle CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 22.03.2017 KW - Disposal KW - Konrad repository KW - Seal PY - 2017 SP - 595 EP - 601 AN - OPUS4-39870 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Horn, Jutta A1 - Völzke, Holger A1 - Wolff, Dietmar T1 - Long-Term Performance of Elastomer seals - From Aging Tests to Lifetime Estimations N2 - Elastomers show a high versatility which makes them ideal materials for sealing applications in various fields. Especially under changing application conditions the high recovery potential of this class of material is beneficial to compensate temperature or pressure fluctuation, and geometrical changes resulting from mechanical loads in e.g. accident conditions. Out of these reasons elastomers are also used in containers for low and intermediate level radioactive waste and for spent fuel transportation casks. In casks designed for low and intermediate level waste elastomer seals can act as primary seal responsible for the containment function whereas in spent fuel storage and transportation casks (dual purpose casks (DPC)) elastomer seals are used as auxiliary seals to allow leakage rate measurements of metal barrier seals. An inherent prerequisite for this kind of application is the Long time-scale of operation without or with limited possibility of seal replacement. In Germany an interim storage license for DPC`s is typically issued for 40 years, a timeframe which might increase in the future due to challenges of the final repository siting procedure. For low and intermediate level waste, also long time periods are required before final disposal can be achieved. Therefore, the performance of elastomer seals over extended time periods is, as for other applications, of high importance. A typical approach to ensure long-term functionality is to perform accelerated aging tests to calculate an estimated lifetime by assuming e.g. Arrhenius like equations for the timetemperature relationship. This approach requires a suitable end of life criterion considering the application of interest. This often can represent a challenge on its own. As BAM is involved in most of the cask licensing procedures and especially responsible for the evaluation of cask-related long-term safety issues we initiated several test programs for investigating the behavior of elastomer seals. Experiments concerning the low temperature performance down to -40 °C and the influence of gamma irradiation have been started first. Currently the thermal aging behavior of elastomer seals, which is the topic of this contribution, is examined. For our aging investigations we use a broad approach to first determine the property changes in different elastomer materials due to thermo-oxidative aging at elevated temperatures and secondly, we test how the typical methods of lifetime extrapolation can be applied to these results. This Approach enables us to detect and exclude undesired side effects which very often influence lifetime estimations. In this contribution, our recent results are extended. The results show that lifetime estimation based on single material properties can be misleading and therefore a combination of several methods is recommended. T2 - ASME 2018 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference CY - Prague, Czech Republic DA - 15.07.2018 KW - Seal performance KW - Rubber KW - Ageing PY - 2018 VL - PVP2018 SP - 84631-1 EP - 84631-8 AN - OPUS4-46346 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grelle, Tobias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Probst, Ulrich A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Investigation programme for evaluation and prediction of the long-term behaviour of Helicoflex® metal seals N2 - In Germany, for the transport and storage of spent nuclear fuel, casks with double closure lid systems are used, which are equipped with Helicoflex® metal seals. The original interim storage period for these casks was planned to be 40 years. However, recent political developments indicate that a storage time of more than 80 years might be necessary. Therefore, the current storage licenses have to be renewed in due course, which requires extended knowledge of the long-term behaviour of all cask components. At the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), metal seals have been investigated after ageing at temperatures between room temperature and 150 °C for up to 7 years. At regular intervals the seals have been tested for leakage rate as well as for their mechanical behaviour. From these tests pronounced influence of ageing could be shown which results in the decrease of the seal force and the useable resilience. The main reason attributed to these performance changes is the increasing permanent deformation of the outer layer of the seal due to creep. So far, an explicit analytical description of the long-term behaviour that could be used for predictions exceeding the tested ageing times and temperatures was not suitable. In addition to the component tests that were already conducted, a comprehensive investigation programme has been started to describe the mechanical behaviour of the individual seal components. The individual seal components are tested regarding different material characteristics including creep, deformation and microstructural properties. The comparability of the material characterization is ensured by comparing the basic raw material of the specimen with the actual component material. Furthermore, detailed investigations of the time and temperature dependent deformation behaviour are realized by ageing seal segments at multiple temperatures for different periods of time and employing standardized tests. By analysing the acquired data in combination with the ongoing long-term component tests a dataset for analytical prediction of the long-term behaviour of the seals is intended for an extended period of time under a certain temperature regime. T2 - 48th Annual Meeting on Nuclear Technology (AMNT 2017) CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 16.05.2017 KW - Metal seal KW - Creep KW - Long-term behavior PY - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-43418 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -