Conceptual design of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete nuclear waste container

Abstract

Abstract This research presents a structural design of high-level waste (HLW) container using ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) material. The proposed design aims to overcome the drawbacks of the existing concrete containers which are heavy, difficult to fabricate, and expensive. In this study, the dry storage container (DSC) that commonly used at Canadian Nuclear facilities is selected to present the proposed design. The design has been performed such that the new UHP-FRC alternative has a structural stiffness equivalent to the existing steel-concrete-steel container under various loading scenarios. Size optimization technique is used with the aim of maximizing stiffness, and minimizing the cost while satisfying both the design stresses and construction requirements. Then, the integrity of the new design has been evaluated against accidental drop-impact events based on realistic drop scenarios. The optimization results showed: the stiffness of the UHP-FRC container (300 mm wall thick) is being in the range of 1.35–1.75 times the stiffness of existing DSC (550 mm wall thick). The use of UHP-FRC leads to decrease the container weight by more than 60%. The UHP-FRC container showed a significant enhancement in performance in comparison to the existing DSC design under considered accidental drop impact scenarios.