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The design of a special form radioactive material has to resist a severe transport accident without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material.
Safety assessment by authorities competent for design approval has to include besides the required test program (impact, percussion, bending and heat test) also the evaluation of the quality management system for design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance and inspection.
These quality assurance measures have to assure that every specimen of the approved design is produced in the same verified quality and every specimen must be able to survive the severe mechanical and thermal tests without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material at any time of its working life.
All important aspects in the design approval procedure by BAM as the competent authority for approvals of special form radioactive material in Germany are summarized in a guideline published in 2014. This paper will give additional explanations to some aspects in safety assessment, e.g.:
the applicability of leak test methods and the need to consider ageing aspects.
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 aspects of SNF and HLW transport packages developed a thesaurus of experience feedback topics from recent approval procedures. The list is structured according to the European PDSR guide. It involves issues, which from BAM point of view, needed clarification during 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, spent fuel behaviour) as well as to general and specific safety analysis report requirements (e.g. report structure and required data).
Storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste in dual purpose casks (DPC) is related with the challenge of maintaining safety for transportation over several decades of storage. Beside consideration of aging mechanisms by appropriate design, material selection and operational controls to assure technical reliability by aging management measures, an essential issue is the continuous control and update of the DPC safety case. Not only the technical objects are subject of aging but also the safety demonstration basis is subject of “aging” due to possible changes of regulations, standards and scientific/technical knowledge. The basic document, defining the transport safety conditions, is the package design safety report (PDSR) for the transport version of the DPC. To ensure a safe transport in future to a destination which is not known yet (because of not yet existing repository sites) periodical reviews of the PDSR, in connection with periodic renewals of package design approval certificates, have to be carried out. The main reviewing tool is a gap analysis. A gap analysis for a PDSR is the assessment of the state of technical knowledge, standards and regulations regarding safety functions of structures, systems and components.
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.
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).
Storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste in dual purpose casks (DPC) is related with the challenge of maintaining safety for transportation over several decades of storage. Beside consideration of aging mechanisms by appropriate design, material selection and operational controls to assure technical reliability by aging management measures, an essential issue is the continuous control and update of the DPC safety case. Not only the technical objects are subject of aging but also the safety demonstration basis is subject of "aging" due to possible changes of regulations, standards and scientific/technical knowledge. The basic document, defining the transport safety conditions, is the package design safety report (PDSR) for the transport version of the DPC. To ensure a safe transport in future to a destination which is not known yet (because of not yet existing repository sites) periodical reviews of the PDSR, in connection with periodic renewals of package design approval certificates, have to be carried out. The main reviewing tool is a gap analysis. A gap analysis for a PDSR is the assessment of the state of technical knowledge, standards and regulations regarding safety functions of structures, systems and components.
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'.
Verification of activity release compliance with regulatory limits within spent fuel transport casks
(2010)
Die Sicherheitsanforderungen, die an Behälter für den Transport radioaktiver Stoffe auf öffentlichen Verkehrswegen gestellt werden, orientieren sich an dem Gefährdungspotenzial des radioaktiven Inhalts. So müssen für den Transport abgebrannter Brennelemente oder hochradioaktiver Abfalle aus nuklearen Anlagen Behälter eingesetzt werden, die auch schweren Unfällen standhalten. Zu ihnen gehören z. B. die CASTOR®-Behälter (Cask for Storage and Transport of Radioactive Material).
In context with new cask designs and their approval procedure the experimental testing of impact limiters under drop test conditions becomes more and more important in order to assess the damage mechanics behavior and safety margins for validation reasons.
In recent years various designs of impact limiters have been tested by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) within specific component testing and particularly with regard to type B package design approval procedures.
The paper focuses on the experimental realization of impact limiter tests and presents implemented measurement techniques to determine the amount of deformation and to explain the impact behavior by means of photogrammetric metrology and 3-d fringe projection method, high-speed motion analysis and adjusted deceleration measurements.
In context with new cask designs and their approval procedure, the experimental testing of impact limiters under drop test conditions becomes more and more important in order to assess the damage mechanics behaviour and safety margins for validation reasons. In recent years, various designs of impact limiters have been tested by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing within specific component testing and particularly with regard to type B package design approval procedures. The paper focuses on the experimental realisation of impact limiter tests and presents implemented measurement techniques to determine the amount of deformation and to explain the impact behaviour by means of photogrammetric metrology and three-dimensional fringe projection method, high speed motion analysis and adjusted deceleration measurements.
Packages for the transport of SNF and HLW are usually equipped with impact limiters to reduce the loads that result from the regulatory 9 m drop test. A common impact limiter design in Germany is a welded steel sheet structure filled with wood. The material wood is the main energy absorber, while the steel sheet provides the integrity of the impact limiter. The IAEA allows mechanical safety cases of transport packages to be carried out computationally, as long as the models used are reliable. In this context, a Finite Element (FE) modeling approach for wood and its application to impact limiters in the calculation of a 9 m drop test is presented.
A user material model for wood was developed for the dynamic FE-Code LS-DYNA. Its features are based on a series of crush tests with spruce wood specimens. The model considers wood as a material with transversely isotropic properties, i.e. in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the fiber. The plastic material behavior depends on the state of stress. This has shown to be important to account for the lateral constraint of wood in impact limiters resulting from steel sheet encapsulation. Lateral constraint or respectively, a multiaxial stress state, increases the compression strength level of wood, limits the softening effect and increases the hardening effect. Lateral constraint also increases volumetric and reduces deviatoric deformation. The wood material model considers various hardening and softening characteristics via input flow curves. It considers effects of temperature and strain rate on strength as well. The development of a multi-surface yield criterion and a plastic potential that enables the user input of plastic Poisson's ratios were the challenges during the development of material model.
A dynamic FE calculation of a horizontal drop test with an 18,000 kg test package was performed. The wood material model was used to model the wooden impact limiter inlays. The impact limiter deformation and the package deceleration were compared to the experimental drop test results to rate the performance of the wood material model.
A management system based on international, national or other standards acceptable to the competent authority shall be established and implemented for all activities including design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance, inspection in accordance with IAEA SSR-6. Hereby, quality assured testing and documentation can substantially contribute to the demonstration of package design compliance with the regulations. Nowadays, a drop test campaign within the approval process of packages for radioactive materials can be a very complex and extensive project including various test and measurement techniques. On this basis of procedures and documents the experimental tests of packages and containers are performed with quality proofed results and a high reliability. A complete traceability and direct transferability of package design test results can give particular importance to the type approval procedure.
Leakage testing during lateral displacement of metallic seals under mechanical accident impact
(2013)
TN®24 E, a new package design, was developed and applied for by Areva TN for German transport approval certificate. The certificate was issued by BfS, Federal Office for Radiation Protection, on 24th of July 2013. The package is designed as a dual purpose cask for transport and storage of up to 21 PWR spent fuel assemblies from German NPPs. BAM is the German competent authority responsible for the design assessment of RAM packages regarding mechanical and thermal safety cases, activity release analysis and all issues of quality assurance during manufacturing and operation of packages. Certain assessment experiences as well as new developments resulting from the BAM TN®24E approval procedure are presented. The mechanical safety case of the TN®24E is based mainly on finite element calculations, which were verified by the TN®81 1/3 scale drop test program performed at BAM. Thermal analyses rely upon calculations, while the activity release criterion is based upon leakage rate results of TN®81 drop tests. The BAM-GGR 012 guideline for the analysis of bolted lid and trunnion systems has been fully implemented. Due to requirements by BAM, AREVA TN developed a new assessment strategy for fracture mechanical evaluation of welding seams. The material qualification and documentation is also an important aspect of BAM assessment; the qualification of borated aluminum basket material, the determination of strength values for thermal aged hardened aluminum alloys for the basket or consideration of high burn-up fuel assemblies are remarkable issues in this context. In addition, the consideration of the material compatibility, especially taking into account a transport after 40 years of dry interim storage in German facilities, has gained significant importance in the licensing process of the TN®24E. Next to obvious mechanical issues such as the assessment of shell ovalization under 9 m drop test scenario and its impact on basket load, thermo-mechanical interactions had to be addressed in the safety case. Due to BAM requirements, AREVA TN performed a full thermo-mechanical analysis of the cask behavior under fire test conditions.
Existing spent nuclear fuel (SF) and high active waste (HAW) management policies and practices worldwide are the result of past presumptions that sufficient reprocessing and/or disposal capacity would be available in the near term. Consequently, in the past many countries have developed specific solutions for different periods of time due to their individual national nuclear policies.
In Germany the concept of dry interim storage in dual purpose metal casks before disposal is being pursued for SF and HAW management and transport and storage licenses have been issued accordingly. The current operation licenses for existing storage facilities have been granted for a storage period of up to 40 years. This concept has demonstrated its suitability for over 20 years so far. Relevant safety requirements haven been assessed for the short-term as well as for the long-term for site-specific operational and accidental storage conditions. But in the meantime significant delays in the national repository siting procedure occured which will make extended storage periods necessary in the future.
This paper describes the current situation in Germany with regard to dry cask storage and focuses on current perspectives considering regulatory, technical, and scientific aspects for storage license renewal. Since there is one case of a storage license limitation to only 20 years due to administrative reasons, first experience is currently gathered in case of an expiring storage license. Subsequent license options have been pursued intensively including the extension of the initial storage license as well as shipping all casks to another storage facility considering an extended storage period at that storage facility as well. All safety relevant aspects have to be reviewed on basis of the current state-of-the-art which might be different from the initial safety demonstrations. That includes new safety assessment standards as well as improved knowledge base. Major issues are e.g. improved accident scenario analyses, assessment methods, and consideration of aging effects from previous operation periods. Inspection programs with respect, e.g. to bolts and seals to verify leak-tightness and lid screw pre-stress have been initiated to demonstrate proper cask conditions for extended storage as well as transportation to another storage facility.
Mechanical loading conditions of transport and storage casks for radioactive materials in accidental scenarios are highly affected by the behavior of both: the impact limiters and the footing materials. To minimize potential damages during the handling of casks, a so called damping concrete is frequently used for the footings in interim nuclear facilities. It obtains its shock absorbing properties through admixing of polymer cells. For a comprehensive mechanical evaluation of casks, advanced material models are also needed for damping concrete. In order to characterize the mechanical properties and to develop numerical material models, penetration tests were carried out at different test facilities of BAM. The tests contain static and dynamic penetration tests on cubic specimen with an edge length of 100 mm as well as mortared specimen with a size of 240 x 240 x 50 cm³. Indenters with different geometries and diameters were used for these model-sized penetration tests. Subsequently a full-scale cylindrical cast-iron indenter with a diameter of 110 cm was dropped of 5 m height on a realistic damping concrete footing.
German approach and experience feedback of transport ability of SNF packages after interim storage
(2013)
In Germany the concept of dry interim storage of spent fuel in dual purpose metal casks is implemented, currently for periods of up to 40 years.
The casks being used have an approved package design in accordance with the international transport regulations. The license for dry storage is granted on the German Atomic Energy Act with respect to the recently revised “Guidelines for dry interim storage of irradiated fuel assemblies and heat-generating radioactive waste in casks” by the German Waste management Commission (ESK).
For transport on public routes between or after long term interim storage periods, it has to be ensured that the transport and storage casks fulfil the specifications of the transport approval or other sufficient properties which satisfy the proofs for the compliance of the safety objectives at that time.
In recent years the validation period of transport approval certificates for manufactured, loaded and stored packages were discussed among authorities and applicants. A case dependant system of 3, 5 and 10 years was established. There are consequences for the safety cases in the Package Design Safety Report including evaluation of long term behavior of components and specific operating procedures of the package.
Present research and knowledge concerning the long term behavior of transport and storage cask components have to be consulted as well as experiences from interim cask storage operations. Challenges in the safety assessment are e.g. the behavior of aged metal and elastomeric gaskets under IAEA test conditions to ensure that the results of drop tests can be transferred to the compliance of the safety objectives at the time of transport after the interim storage period.
Ziel dieses Beitrages soll es sein, zum einen das Vorgehen bei der Erlangung einer Anerkennung zur qualitätsgesicherten Herstellung einer Verpackung für prüfpflichtige Versandstücke der zuständigen Behörde im Sinne des ADR Unterabschnittes 1.7.3 'Qualitätssicherung' darzustellen und zum anderen Probleme bei der Umsetzung der rechtsverbindlichen Vorschriften des Gefahrgutrechts aufzuzeigen.
The majority of transports of radioactive materials are carried out in packages which don’t need a package design approval by a competent authority. Low-active radioactive materials are transported in such packages e.g. in the medical and pharmaceutical industry and in the nuclear industry as well. Decommissioning of NPP’s leads to a strong demand for packages to transport low and middle active radioactive waste. According to IAEA regulations the “non-competent authority approved package types” are the Excepted Packages and the Industrial Packages of Type IP-1, IP-2 and IP-3 and packages of Type A. For these types of packages an assessment by the competent authority is required for the quality assurance measures for the design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance and inspection (IAEA SSR 6, § 306). In general a compliance audit of the manufacturer of the packaging is required during this assessment procedure. Their regulatory level in the IAEA regulations is not comparable with the “regulatory density” for packages requiring competent authority package design approval. Practices in different countries lead to different approaches within the assessment of the quality assurance measures in the management system as well as in the quality assurance program of a special package design. To use the package or packaging in a safe manner and in compliance with the regulations a management system for each phase of the life of the package or packaging is necessary. The relevant IAEA-SSR6 § 801 requires documentary verification by the consignor concerning package compliance with the requirements.
The paper presents technical details of the drop test performance as well as some experimental results of tests carried out with the Japanese 'Yoyushindo-disposal' waste container for intermediate depth disposal. The tests were accompanied by various metrology to collect data as basis for safety assessment.
Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) is the responsible authority for the
assessment of mechanical and thermal safety as well as quality issues within the licensing procedure
for transport casks for radioactive materials. The assessment includes a brittle fracture analysis of all
relevant cask components.
For cask bodies where a steel bottom is welded to a steel shell, specimens for testing of sufficient
fracture resistance can normally not be extracted directly from the welding seam area of the cask.
Therefore, a methodology has to be developed to ensure compliance with the safety analysis
considerations and the approved design specification. This paper describes such a methodology
including brittle fracture analysis and de-termination of required material properties as well as aspects
of quality assurance during manufacturing.
Transport packages for spent fuel have to meet the International Atomic Energy Agency requirements for different transport conditions. Physical state of spent fuel and fuel rod cladding as well as geometric configuration of fuel assemblies are important inputs for the evaluation of package capabilities under these conditions. In this paper, the mechanical behaviour of high burn-up spent fuel assemblies under transport conditions is analysed with regard to assumptions to be used in the activity release and criticality safety analysis. In particular the different failure modes of the fuel rods (fine cracks or complete breakage), which can cause release of gas, volatiles, fuel particles or fragments have to be properly considered in these assumptions. In view of the complexity of interactions between the fuel rods as well as between fuel assemblies, basket, and cask containment, the exact mechanical analysis of such phenomena is nearly impossible. The gaps in information concerning the material properties of cladding and pellets, especially for the high burn-up fuel, make the analysis more complicated additionally. In this context some practical approaches based on experiences of BAM Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing within safety assessment of packages for transport of spent fuel are discussed.
BAM (Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing) is the competent authority for mechanical and thermal safety assessment of transport packages for spent fuel and high level waste (HLW) in Germany. In context with package design approval of the new German HLW cask CASTOR HAW28M, BAM performed several drop tests with a half-scale model of the CASTOR HAW/TB2. The test model was manufactured by GNS (Gesellschaft fur Nuklear Service mbH) and tested under accident transport conditions on the 200 tons BAM drop test facility at the BAM Test Site Technical Safety. For this comprehensive test program the test specimen CASTOR HAW/TB2 was instrumented at 21 measurement planes with altogether 23 piezo-resistive accelerometers, five temperature sensors and 131 tri-axial strain gauges in the container interior and exterior, respectively. The strains of four representative lid bolts were recorded by four uniaxial strain gauges per each bolt. Helium leakage rate measurements were performed before and after each test in the above noted testing sequence. The paper presents some experimental results of the half-scale CASTOR HAW/TB2 prototype (14,500 kg) and measurement data logging.
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing is the competent authority for mechanical safety assessment of transport packages for radioactive material in Germany. The further development of state-of-the-art technology concerning assessment methods is essential for a qualified work of involved designers and authority experts. The paper gives an example of current development done to improve understanding and modeling capabilities of wood filled impact limiter. In order to reduce the loads applied to the package containment, which result from regulatory drop tests, most packages are protected by energy dissipating impact limiter. Wood, encapsulated by steel sheets, is one of the materials typically used for energy dissipation in these impact limiter. Very often, mechanical safety cases regarding the 9 m drop test are performed computationally, where it is essential to use reliable and verified computational methods and models. In this context, the paper presents an approach for a finite element material model for wood. Thereby, the mechanical behavior of wood under compression loading is the focus of the development work. Additionally, material orientation as well as strain rate, temperature and lateral constraint may vary. A large number of experiments, particularly compression tests, was designed and performed to establish an adequate experimental database for modeling verification. The experimental results enabled the derivation of necessary requirements: The material model has to take into account strain rate and temperature dependencies as well as the anisotropic characteristics of the material, a proper yield criterion, flow rule and hardening law. Such a material model is currently not available in established commercial dynamic finite element codes. Thus it is necessary to create a user-defined material model considering the mentioned requirements. A first step was done by determining a yield surface as well as detecting flow and hardening mechanisms from experimental force-deflection curves. In a next step the LS-DYNA material model MAT_75 was altered according to conclusions of former BAM development work, regarding the modeling of post-peak softening as a function of lateral constraint. Future research will contain the further development, implementation and verification of a material model for wood.
In Germany the concept of dry interim storage of spent fuel and vitrified high active waste in dual purpose metal casks is implemented (currently for periods of up to 40 years). The casks being used have an approved package design in accordance with the international transport regulations. The license for dry storage is granted on the German Atomic Energy Act with respect to the guidelines of the German Reactor Safety Commission for dry interim storage of spent fuel. Currently part of the assessment process of the cask design for transport on public routes is to evaluate the suitability of the used materials with respect to their properties and their compatibility for possible transport periods. For transport on public routes during or after long term interim storage periods, it has to be ensured that the transport and storage casks fulfill the specifications of the transport approval or other sufficient properties which satisfy the proofs for the compliance of the safety objectives at that time. This paper describes the state-of-the-art technology in Germany and points out arising prospective challenges and which related questions have to be answered in future. Present research and knowledge concerning the long term behavior of transport and storage cask components (such as gaskets and shielding components) have to be consulted as well as experiences from interim cask storage operations. Challenges in the safety assessment are therefore i.e. the behavior of aged metal and elastomeric gaskets under IAEA test conditions to ensure that the results of drop tests can be transferred to the compliance of the safety objectives at the time of transport after the interim storage period (aged package). Assessment methods for the material compatibility, the behavior of fuel assemblies and the aging behavior of shielding parts (e. g. influence of radiation) are further issues as well.
Fire testing is an essential part of the hypothetical, cumulative mechanical and thermal accident test conditions that shall guarantee package safety in severe accidents. Not only for radioactive material transport packages but also for other containments of dangerous goods international standards require specific thermal load specifications. Following the guideline 'Safety in tech-nology and chemistry' BAM as a scientific and technical German federal government institute operates a 12 km² large open air test facility for experimental investigations of dangerous goods and their containments. On an area besides the well-known 200-ton drop test facility we put into operation new fire test facilities. This facility area provides two fire test stands that are utilized with liquid Propane as fuel from a central earth-covered 60 m³ LPG storage tank. From that stor-age the Propane is pumped via pipelines to the test stands where the gas is released from nozzles, and ignited by ignition burners. The fire exposed test facility areas are 12 m x 8 m. Fire test facil-ity B (with gas release nozzles below water-covered ground) is designed for fire testing of con-tainers that may burst during the test. Fire test facility A (with ring burner systems) is designed for heavy test objects up to 200 tons, e.g. for full-scale spent fuel casks.
The paper will present a detailed description of the facility, insight into first test performances, and results of calorimeter fire tests, using containers of various sizes, to verify the absorbed heat fluxes, demonstrating that regulatory fire test conditions are met, and that the Propane fire can be compared with a kerosene or heating oil pool fire.
Within the last years BAM has carried out numerous drop tests with prototype casks made of ductile cast iron onto targets according to the requirements for final disposal of non-heat generating waste in the German KONRAD repository. The results have shown that the target specifications in the acceptance criteria have to be defined more accurately to get reproducible test results with high precision. Hence, a suitable test stand foundation was developed with much effort. The integrity of the upper concrete layer of this target must be preserved during a test.
Recently the geometrical properties of a tested cubic cast iron container led to a concentration of the impact forces beneath the container walls. The target was damaged strongly with the consequence of inadmissible reduction of cask stresses. For that reason the target construction was modified. However, the basic design was not changed. A prefabricated concrete slab was still joined by a mortar layer to the IAEA target of the BAM drop test facility. In the course of the optimization of the test stand foundation the concrete slab dimensions and the reinforcement were enlarged. During the drop test repetition the target kept intact. Additionally, the mechanical behavior of the cast iron container and the target was analyzed by finite element calculations.
This improved target construction is suggested as a reference target for drop tests with casks whose mass and base area are covered by the container types VI or VII respectively according to the KONRAD repository acceptance criteria.
The measurements during the drop tests with cast iron casks have provided the strains on the cask surface at selected positions. This allows the verification of finite element simulations of drop tests which show the stress distribution also inside the component. In September 2008 a drop test was carried out with a cylindrical cast iron cask containing an artificial material defect which was designed under consideration of critical stress states in the cask body. This drop test could demonstrate the safety against failure by fracture of a cask made of a special cast iron with reduced fracture toughness.
Mechanical design assessment approaches of actual spent fuel and HLW transport package designs
(2010)
Requirements and test programs for sealed radioactive sources are specified in international standards for safety in transport and in use.
Sealed sources which are approved as special form radioactive material according to the Transport Regulations, IAEA Safety Standards TS-R-1, must be able to withstand mechanical (9 m drop, percussion and bending) and thermal (800°C heat) tests without loss of radioactive content.
The International Standard ISO 2919 provides a set of tests which classifies the sources for their safety in use. Performance tests specified in this standard are temperature (high and low), external pressure, impact, vibration and puncture tests. Each test can be applied at different levels of intensity depending on typical usage.
As a criterion of pass or fail, leakage testing has to be done after each test.
The poster gives an overview of BAM s comprehensive test equipment and experience in testing sealed radioactive sources.