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- Cask (1)
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Transport packages for spent nuclear fuel have to be assessed with respect to specific transport conditions which are defined in the safety regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In general, gastight fuel rods constitute the first barrier of the containment system. The physical state of the spent fuel and the fuel rod cladding as well as the geometric configuration of the fuel assemblies are important inputs for the evaluation of the package safety under transport conditions. The objective of this paper is to discuss the methodologies accepted by BAM for the authority assessment of spent fuel behavior within the package design approval procedure of German package designs. In particular, cracks or failures in the fuel rod cladding can occur under regulatory transport conditions. These defects can cause the release of gas, volatiles, fuel particles or fragments into the package cavity and have to be considered properly in the safety analysis. Another issue is the transport of defective fuel rods. One concept is to use special canisters which can be handled like fuel assemblies. This concept requires additional assessment concerning drying, sealing and the mechanical and thermal design of such canisters. The package as a mechanical system is characterized by a complex set of interactions, e.g. between the fuel rods within the assembly as well as between the fuel assemblies, the basket, and the cask containment. This complexity together with the limited knowledge about the material properties and the variation of the fuel assemblies regarding cladding material, burn-up and the operation history makes an exact mechanical analysis of the fuel rods nearly impossible. The simplified approaches to consider conservatively spent fuel behavior currently accepted by BAM are presented here.
BAM as competent authority regarding assessment of mechanical and thermal design, activity release and quality assurance measures of Type-B(U) transport packages developed a thesaurus of experience feedback topics from recent assessment procedures. The list is structured according to the European PDSR guide. It involves issues, which from BAM's point of view, needed clarification during the last package design assessment procedures. The list contains issues from Operation (e.g. deactivation of handling lugs not intended for package handling), maintenance (e.g. leak tightness of impact limiting devices) to technical assessment (e.g. formation of hydrogen by radiolysis and its impact on pressure and ignitability, consideration of ageing mechanisms, thermo-mechanical assessment, impact of gaps between content and flask) as well as to general and specific safety analysis report requirements (e.g. report structure and required data).
The safety and integrity of casks for radioactive waste in accidental scenarios is analysed by BAM Federal institute tor Materials Research and Testing. An accidental scenario in German interim storage facilities is the drop from a crane during the handling operation. To reduce the mechanical loads to the cask a shock absorbing footing with high energy absorption capability is used in these areas. In order to analyse and evaluate such impact scenarios of casks, numerical simulations are performed. For a comprehensive simulation of an accidental scenario the behaviour of the damping concrete footing has to be taken into account as well and therefor a material model is needed. Material parameters under different loading conditions are the basis for a numerical model. For that reason a government funded research project (Kasparek, 2012) was conducted to characterise damping concrete under quasi-static as well as highly dynamic impact loading conditions. The performed tests include compression tests with and without lateral constraint small-scale and midscale penetration tests with different indenters, and finally a full-scale drop test onto a damping concrete footing.