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Organisationseinheit der BAM
The aging management system for the mechanical components of nuclear power plants (NPPs) must be established and used by the licensee in such a way that the quality of safety relevant components is guaranteed for the completely designed lifetime of the NPP. This demands an extensive plant life management with special emphases on the knowledge of the degradation in material properties. The basic safety concept in Germany observes this circumstance. Lifetime extension of the German NPPs is an aim of the current valid coalition agreement of the German government. Operational extension of interim storage facilities requires, in comparison to the aging management system for NPP, an aging management system adapted to the Special circumstances of spent fuel storage casks. Extension of interim storage periods for spent fuel casks beyond the designed lifetime requires, in comparison to the components of an NPP, an increasing knowledge of material degradation with potential impact on cask integrity, e.g. leak tightness. Dry interim storage in Germany has been approved for 40 years. After that time, according to the present strategy, a final repository should be available. However, until now, such a final facility still does not exist, and the German exploration and licensing process is heavily delayed. Currently, discussions are continuing regarding further exploration of the Gorleben salt mine. There is willingness to overcome this situation that is clearly described in the available coalition agreement of the federal government. Anyway, however, the prediction is viewed; a repository for heat generating radioactive waste in Germany will not be available in the near future and may not be available when first storage facilities and casks reach their 40 years of approved lifetime, which will occur in ~25 years starting from now. Therefore, the question must be asked:
what has to be done with the existing storage casks in the interim facilities? May these casks be fit for continued use, with an extension of the storage period? One option is to have an aging management system, which creates enough information about the technical condition of safety relevant cask properties. This is the basis for safety evaluation for extended storage periods. In the present paper, possible aging mechanisms for high level waste storage casks are discussed, as well as the influence of the time dependent changes of the component properties.
Langzeitversuche über 10 Jahre an Federkern-Metalldichtungen mit Aluminium- bzw. Silberummantelungen
(2023)
Federunterstützte Metalldichtungen mit Aluminium(Al)- oder Silber(Ag)-Ummantelung werden u.a. in Behältern für Wärme entwickelnde radioaktive Abfälle eingesetzt, da diese Dichtungen eine sehr gute Dichtheit gewährleisten sowie Langlebigkeit und Beständigkeit gegenüber erhöhten Temperaturen und radioaktiver Strahlung aufweisen. Auch wenn die Sicherheit solcher Behälter und der verwendeten Dichtungen vielfach belegt wurde, sind sie Gegenstand andauernder Forschung, etwa im Hinblick auf eine absehbar benötigte verlängerte Zwischenlagerdauer. Aus diesem Grund werden an der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) im Fachbereich 3.4 „Sicherheit von Lagerbehältern“ seit über 20 Jahren Versuche an solchen Metalldichtungen durchgeführt. Dabei sollen zusätzliche Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der Sicherheitsreserven der Dichtungen in unterstellten Störfallszenarien (axiale Bewegung des Deckelsystems bzw. Aufweitung der Nutgeometrie) und insbesondere detailliertere Erkenntnisse zum Langzeitverhalten gewonnen werden.
In Germany spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste is stored in interim storage containers with double lid systems. Those lids are equipped with metal seals (e.g. Helicoflex®) that ensure the safe enclosure of the inventory. The used metal seals consist of three components as can be seen in the cross-sectional view in Figure 1. The innermost part is a helical spring that is surrounded by an inner jacket made of stainless steel. The outer jacket that is made of a softer material which in case of assembly in the aforementioned storage containers is silver or aluminum (i.e. Al 99.5). During application the seal is compressed and due to the restoring force of the helical spring, the outer jacket is plastically deformed and adapts to the sealing surface. Hence, leakage paths are closed and the sealing function is generated. In Germany the above-mentioned containers are licensed for up to 40 years of interim storage, which in case extended storage becomes necessary before a final repository is available will have to be extended to even longer periods. Therefore, the evaluation of the long-term behavior of the seals is necessary, taking into account storage conditions, decay heat and possible mechanical loads as well.
At Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM) long-term investigations are being conducted in which seals are assembled in test flanges and aged at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 150°C for accelerated aging. The aged seals are tested semi-annually (after the first 6 months in which the seals are tested more frequently) regarding the sealing performance, the remaining seal force, and the useable resilience upon decompression. Results of these investigations have been published over the past years (e.g. Grelle, Wolff, Probst, Jaunich, & Völzke, 2017; Völzke, Wolff, Probst, Nagelschmidt, & Schulz, 2014). It was found that the seal force and the useable resilience decrease with time and temperature, which is in agreement with the result of other studies (Sassoulas et al., 2006; Wataru et al., 2016) as well. Geometry change of the outer jacket has been identified as the main reason for this seal behavior. At the prevailing operating temperatures and stresses the aluminum is subjected to creep deformation leading to a thinning of the outer jacket. Since the seal groove depth remains unchanged the helical spring expands, which in turn leads to a decrease of the generated spring and seal force.
Although the main reason for the change of seal parameters over time and temperature is known, a detailed characterization of the seal behavior and a reliable prediction of the parameter development for aging times that exceed the experimental time frame have not been possible, yet.
For deeper understanding of the aging processes, an Investigation program, which is covered in this contribution, is conducted at Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM) that focusses on the behavior of the aluminum jacket and its influence on the long-term sealing performance. The program investigates properties of material samples as well as the behavior of the seal as a component.
Original sheet material of the same aluminum that is used for manufacturing of the seals is investigated in compression creep tests. For this, a DMA (dynamic mechanical analysis) machine is employed (here used for static tests) that allows for a measurement of the specimens deformation under forces of up to 500 N. The advantage of this method is that the original material can be tested in the same shape as used for the seals which is 0.5 mm thick sheet material. For investigation of tensile creep standard specimens are used, that were machined from surrogate material of the same composition and annealing condition.
Furthermore, aluminum seals that are cut into smaller segments are assembled in flanges and placed in heating chambers at temperatures ranging from 23°C to 150°C. After different periods of time from 3 days to 300 days the segments are taken out of the flanges and are investigated, thus giving information on different states of aging. Measurements of the development of the seal contact width and the aluminum jacket thickness are done with an optical microscope. Further investigations on the segments will include metallography and hardness measurements.
From the detailed material and component behavior including the results of the long-term seal force and useable resilience investigations a better understanding of the overall seal behavior can be gained. The aim is to contribute to the development of material models and analytical approaches for the prediction of the sealing behavior in dependence of time and temperature.
In Germany, spent nuclear fuel and high active waste from reprocessing is stored in transport and storage containers with double lid systems that are equipped with metal seals completing the primary sealing barrier. The tasks of the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) within the interim storage licensing procedures ruled by the German Atomic Energy Act include the long-term safety evaluation of the container design regarding the permanently safe enclosure of the inventory. In order to generate a knowledge base for the safety evaluation, research regarding the long-term behavior of the critical components is performed. So far, the containers are licensed for an interim storage period of 40 years. However, due to significant delays in establishing a final repository, the required time span for interim storage is expected to increase significantly. Thus, a widespread investigation program is run to gain systematic data on the long-term behavior of the seals and to develop prediction models.
Long-term seal investigations consider the development of their restoring seal force, their useable resilience and their achievable leakage rate caused by aging at temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 150 °C. This year, the total time span of the tests reaches 10 years. Furthermore, seal segments are aged at the selected temperatures for up to 300 days. From these segments additional information on the sealing behavior, changes of the seal contact and the material behavior is gained.
This contribution deals with the current results of the long-term seal investigations at BAM. Furthermore, insights of the more in-depth component and material investigations of the metal seals with focus on the seal contact development are discussed and the ongoing work aiming for an analytical description of the thermo-mechanical aging effects on metal seals are presented.