TY - CONF A1 - Linnemann, Konrad A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Reiche, I. A1 - Ramsay, J. T1 - New Sco-III regulations to ship large objects as surface contaminated objects N2 - The decommissioning or refurbishment of nuclear facilities necessitates either the storage or disposal of large radioactive components such as steam generators, pressurizers, reactor pressure vessels and heads, and coolant pumps, to list the major contributors. These components or objects are large in size and mass, measuring up to approximately 6 meters in diameter, up to 20 meters in length, and weighing over 400 000 kg. In many situations, the components are transported off-site to a storage, disposal or recycling/treatment facility. Previously, many large objects had to be transported under special arrangement. The latest 2018 edition of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, No. SSR-6 [1], incorporates regulations for the shipment of large objects as a new category of surface contaminated object, SCO-III, based on the IAEA “performance package” concept. This paper provides background and practical guidance on these regulations. Additionally, the experiences of BAM with the appoval of two steam converters of the NPP Lingen are presented as the first approval process for SCO-III objects in Germany. The primary additions to SSR-6 include SCO-III classification and requirements, approval and administrative requirements for the new classification, and the addition of SCO-III to the proper shipping name for UN 2913. Advisory material drafted for the new requirements will be included in the next revision of SSG-26, Advisory Material for the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, expected to be published soon. Note that at this time the proposed provisions for large objects do not include components such as reactor vessels, due to the more limited experience and greater radioactivity levels. The SCO-III concept lays the groundwork and may be extended to cover other large objects that are classified as low specific activity (LSA) material in the future. T2 - Kerntechnik 2022 CY - Leipzig, Germany DA - 21.06.2022 KW - Transport packages KW - Radioactive materials KW - SCO-III KW - Large objects PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-55423 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Gaddampally, Mohan Reddy T1 - Failure Analysis on Irradiated Claddings Subjected to Long-Term Dry Interim Storage N2 - Long-term dry interim storage may adversely affect the mechanical properties of spent fuel rods, possibly resulting in a reduced resilience during handling or transport after storage. Since the cladding is the first barrier for the spent fuel pellets, its integrity must be demonstrated until the end of interim storage and subsequent transportation. An established method for characterizing the cladding material is the ring compression test, in which a small, cylindrical sample of the cladding tube is subjected to a compressive load. This test is a laboratory representation of a load case where the fuel rod is crushed. Pre-storage drying and the early stage of interim storage can subject the cladding to higher temperatures and higher pressure induced tensile hoop stresses than those associated with in-reactor operation and pool storage. Under these conditions, radial hydrides may precipitate in zirconium-based alloys (Zircaloy) during slow cooling, which result in embrittlement of the cladding material and eventually a possible sudden failure of cladding integrity under additional mechanical loads. Especially long, continuous radial hydride structures and low temperature can cause severe embrittlement of claddings and finally failure by fracture even at small deformations. Therefore, the study of hydride morphology plays an important role in describing the brittle failure behaviour of the claddings. The focus of the presented research is on the development of appropriate numerical methods for predicting the mechanical behaviour and identification of limiting conditions to prevent brittle fracture of Zircaloy claddings. Typical hydride morphologies are shown. An iterative inverse analysis method is described for deriving the elastic-plastic material properties in the hoop direction of a ring-shaped sample. A modelling approach based on cohesive zones is explained which is able to reproduce the propagation of cracks initiated at radial hydrides in the zirconium matrix. The developed methods are applied to defueled samples of cladding alloy ZIRLO®, which were subjected to a thermo-mechanical treatment to reorient existing circumferential hydrides to radial hydrides. A selected sample showing sudden load drops during a quasi-static ring compression test is analysed by means of fracture mechanics for illustrative purposes. This project as part of the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 847593. T2 - BAM-Kolloquium der Abteilung 3 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 05.06.2023 KW - Cladding Embrittlement KW - Cohesive Zone Modelling KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Nuclear Fuel PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57598 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Wille, Frank T1 - Test facilities for transport and storage packages at BAM N2 - BAM acts as authority and for service in safety assessment of packages for transport and storage of radioactive materials. We offer extensive test capabilities and application of analytical methods for design verification and simulation for all types of packages for the transport and storage of radioactive materials according with the international IAEA Regulations for the safe transport and for national storage acceptance criteria. BAM operates several test facilities for drop and stacking testing, leak testing and thermal testing. The large drop test tower allows dropping full-scale specimens up to 200,000 kg in any drop orientation as requested. The comprehensive test facilities combined with long-term experience, newest equipment and measurement devices according to the latest state-of-the-art technology ensures realisation of complex test campaigns for package safety evaluation. Beyond that, non-destructive and destructive material test devices and experts are available. Equipment and application of all kinds of typical measurement categories can be offered for testing campaigns. In recent years we performed testing of full-scale type B package models with complex handling and preparation procedures. The results were contributed for different package design approval procedures. Type A packages mainly designed for medical related transport purposes, were continuously tested according to the transport regulations over recent years as well. Moreover, we work on research topics with relevance to package safety. The mechanical behaviour of lid closure systems under transport and storage conditions and the thermal behaviour of impact limiters were recently of special importance for the assessment competencies of BAM and were investigated under use of our test facilities. The paper describes the test facilities and capabilities for package design safety evaluation at BAM and shows examples from our recent work. T2 - PATRAM 2022, 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials CY - Juan-les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Transport KW - Drop testing KW - Fire test KW - IAEA KW - Package PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58088 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Linnemann, Konrad A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Reiche, Ingo A1 - Ramsay, J. T1 - New SCO-iii regulations to ship large comonents as surface contaminated objects N2 - The decommissioning or refurbishment of nuclear facilities necessitates either the storage or disposal of large radioactive components such as steam generators, pressurizers, reactor pressure vessels and heads, and coolant pumps, to list the major contributors. These components or objects are large in size and mass, measuring up to approximately 6 meters in diameter, up to 20 meters in length, and weighing over 400 000 kg. In many situations, the components are transported off-site to a storage, disposal or recycling/treatment facility. Previously, many large objects had to be transported under special arrangement. T2 - PATRAM22 CY - Juan les Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Gefahrgut KW - Radioaktive Stoffe KW - Rückbau kerntechnischer Anlagen KW - Transport PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-57750 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rolle, Annette A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Wille, Frank T1 - Ageing aspect in design approval of special form radioactive material N2 - In accordance with the IAEA transport regulations, the design of special form radioactive material (SFRM) shall resist a severe transport accident without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material. The safety assessment for design approval includes besides the program for physical tests (impact, percussion, bending and heat test) also the evaluation of the management system for design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance, and inspection. SFRM source design plus management system shall ensure, that every specimen of the approved design is able to survive the severe mechanical and thermal tests at any time of its SFRM-working life. Due to the long-term use of SFRM designs in most cases, the assessment of the source ageing behavior is an important aspect in the approval procedure. Different fields of application imply a wide range of environmental conditions, from clean room atmosphere to highly aggressive industrial conditions. Besides of radioactive content, corrosion is a main factor for possible SFRM design degradation. Although the IAEA Advisory Material SSG-26 already implies an indication of the need for considering ageing mechanisms, suitable amendments in the regulatory requirements of SSR-6 should be introduced to make the approval procedure more transparent and help to reduce rounds of questions by the authority. A supplementary requirement for considering of ageing mechanisms could be a helpful contribution to an international harmonization of the approval procedure. This paper will describe major influencing factors to be considered to assess the ageing behavior of a SFRM design and will identify the need for a regulatory specification of a SFRM-working life as basis for the assessment of the SFRM design regarding time-dependent weakening. A proposal for an explicit requirement for consideration of ageing mechanisms in safety assessment of SFRM, which should be considered in the ongoing SSR-6 revision cycle, will be explained. T2 - PATRAM22 Conference CY - Juan-Les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Radioaktive Stoffe KW - Beförderung KW - Zulassung KW - Strahlenschutz PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57781 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rolle, Annette A1 - Komann, Steffen A1 - Wille, Frank T1 - Ageing aspect in design approval of special form radioactive material N2 - In accordance with the IAEA transport regulations, the design of special form radioactive material (SFRM) shall resist a severe transport accident without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material. The safety assessment for design approval includes besides the program for physical tests (impact, percussion, bending and heat test) also the evaluation of the management system for design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance, and inspection. SFRM source design plus management system shall ensure, that every specimen of the approved design is able to survive the severe mechanical and thermal tests at any time of its SFRM-working life. Due to the long-term use of SFRM designs in most cases, the assessment of the source ageing behavior is an important aspect in the approval procedure. Different fields of application imply a wide range of environmental conditions, from clean room atmosphere to highly aggressive industrial conditions. Besides of radioactive content, corrosion is a main factor for possible SFRM design degradation. Although the IAEA Advisory Material SSG-26 already implies an indication of the need for considering ageing mechanisms, suitable amendments in the regulatory requirements of SSR-6 should be introduced to make the approval procedure more transparent and help to reduce rounds of questions by the authority. A supplementary requirement for considering of ageing mechanisms could be a helpful contribution to an international harmonization of the approval procedure. This paper will describe major influencing factors to be considered to assess the ageing behavior of a SFRM design and will identify the need for a regulatory specification of a SFRM-working life as basis for the assessment of the SFRM design regarding time-dependent weakening. A proposal for an explicit requirement for consideration of ageing mechanisms in safety assessment of SFRM, which should be considered in the ongoing SSR-6 revision cycle, will be explained. T2 - PATRAM22 Conference CY - Juan-Les-Pins, Antibes, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Ttransport KW - Radioactive material KW - Sealed sources KW - Ageing PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 6 AN - OPUS4-57786 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Quercetti, Thomas A1 - Scheidemann, Robert T1 - Test Facilities for Radioactive Materials Transport and Storage Packagings at BAM N2 - BAM acts as authority and for service in safety assessment of packages for transport and storage of radioactive materials. We offer extensive test capabilities and application of analytical methods for design verification and simulation for all types of packages for the transport and storage of radioactive materials according with the international IAEA Regulations for the safe transport and for national storage acceptance criteria. BAM operates several test facilities for drop and stacking testing, leak testing and thermal testing. The large drop test tower allows dropping full-scale specimens up to 200,000 kg in any drop orientation as requested. The comprehensive test facilities combined with long-term experience, newest equipment and measurement devices according to the latest state-of-the-art technology ensures realisation of complex test campaigns for package safety evaluation. Beyond that, non-destructive and destructive material test devices and experts are available. Equipment and application of all kinds of typical measurement categories can be offered for testing campaigns. In recent years we performed testing of full-scale type B package models with complex handling and preparation procedures. The results were contributed for different package design approval procedures. Type A packages mainly designed for medical related transport purposes, were continuously tested according to the transport regulations over recent years as well. Moreover, we work on research topics with relevance to package safety. The mechanical behaviour of lid closure systems under transport and storage conditions and the thermal behaviour of impact limiters were recently of special importance for the assessment competencies of BAM and were investigated under use of our test facilities. The paper describes the test facilities and capabilities for package design safety evaluation at BAM and shows examples from our recent work. T2 - PATRAM 2022, 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials CY - Juan-les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - IAEA KW - Fire test KW - Drop testing KW - Transport KW - Package PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 12 AN - OPUS4-57967 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Musolff, Andre T1 - Fire Influence to Wood Filled Impact Limiters - Implications for the Package Design Safety Case N2 - Impact limiters with wooden components are widely used in the design of packages for transportation of radioactive material. In most designs, the wood is encapsulated with steel sheets. Impact limiters mainly determine the mechanical and thermal behaviour of the package in accident conditions of transport in accordance with the IAEA Regulations. In context with research and development for package design approval competence, the thermal behaviour of heavy-weight packages was investigated at BAM with an artificially pre-damaged generic impact limiter design. Within this first investigation, the pre-damaged impact limiter with a diameter of 2.3 meters was mounted on a water tank simulating the thermal capacity of a cask during the fire test. The water tank is part of a water circulating system built of several components such as pump, heater, cooler, sliding valve, flow meter, thermocouples and control unit in order to measure the heat flux. Furthermore, the investigations focus on the effects this additional heat generation would have on the cask and especially on the lid-closure system with the gasket. The results of these experiments could find consideration in the safety case of the transport packages of radioactive material using wood filled impact limiters. T2 - 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials CY - Juan-les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Fire test KW - Impact limiter KW - Mechanical and thermal behaviour PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57719 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Gaddampally, Mohan Reddy A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Fracture Mechanics Analysis of Spent Fuel Claddings during Long-Term Dry Interim Storage N2 - The prevention of brittle fracture of spent fuel claddings during long-term dry interim storage is based on experimental investigations, numerical analyses and assessment methods for predicting the mechanical behavior and determining limiting conditions. The ring compression test (RCT) is an established experimental method for characterizing cladding material. Test results for various high-burnup pressure water reactor zirconium-based fuel cladding alloys (e.g., ZIRLO®, M5®) are publicly available. To reduce the effort associated with irradiated samples in hot cells, it is helpful to perform studies on unirradiated surrogate cladding material. Based on such experimental data, load-displacement curves were numerically analyzed for selected cladding materials. In the presence of radial hydrides, a sample may suddenly fail by fracture even at small deformations. Noticeable load drops in the RCT occur associated to unstable crack propagation through the radial hydride network. The failure mechanism is quasi-cleavage in the hydrides and micro-void nucleation, growth, and coalescence in the zirconium matrix, with ductile tearing patches connecting neighboring hydrides. The failure process was simulated by cohesive zones controlled by the fracture energy and the cohesive strength. A modeling approach is presented in which the radial hydride morphology is taken into account. Based on the developed fracture mechanics approach with cohesive zone modeling, not only the deformation behavior but also the failure behavior of irradiated as well as unirradiated claddings with radial hydrides under RCT loading conditions can be adequately described. T2 - 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2022) CY - Juan-les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Extended Interim Storage KW - Nuclear Fuel Cladding KW - Numerical Failure Analysis KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Fuel Characterization PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-59146 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zencker, Uwe T1 - Fracture Mechanics Analysis of Spent Fuel Claddings during Long-Term Dry Interim Storage N2 - The prevention of brittle fracture of spent fuel claddings during long-term dry interim storage is based on experimental investigations, numerical analyses and assessment methods for predicting the mechanical behavior and determining limiting conditions. The ring compression test (RCT) is an established experimental method for characterizing cladding material. Test results for various high-burnup pressure water reactor zirconium-based fuel cladding alloys (e.g., ZIRLO®, M5®) are publicly available. To reduce the effort associated with irradiated samples in hot cells, it is helpful to perform studies on unirradiated surrogate cladding material. Based on such experimental data, load-displacement curves were numerically analyzed for selected cladding materials. In the presence of radial hydrides, a sample may suddenly fail by fracture even at small deformations. Noticeable load drops in the RCT occur associated to unstable crack propagation through the radial hydride network. The failure mechanism is quasi-cleavage in the hydrides and micro-void nucleation, growth, and coalescence in the zirconium matrix, with ductile tearing patches connecting neighboring hydrides. The failure process was simulated by cohesive zones controlled by the fracture energy and the cohesive strength. A modeling approach is presented in which the radial hydride morphology is taken into account. Based on the developed fracture mechanics approach with cohesive zone modeling, not only the deformation behavior but also the failure behavior of irradiated as well as unirradiated claddings with radial hydrides under RCT loading conditions can be adequately described. T2 - 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2022) CY - Juan-les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Extended Interim Storage KW - Nuclear Fuel Cladding KW - Numerical Failure Analysis KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Fuel Characterization PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59147 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -