TN-68 spent fuel transport cask analytical evaluation for drop events

Abstract

AbstractThe US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for licensing commercial spent nuclear fuel transported in casks certified by NRC under the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Title 10, Part 71. Both the International Atomic Energy Agency regulations for transporting radioactive materials, and 10 CFR 71·73 require casks to be evaluated for hypothetical accident conditions, which includes a 9 m (30 ft) drop impact event onto a flat, essentially unyielding, horizontal surface, in the most damaging orientation. This paper examines the behaviour of one of the NRC certified transportation casks, the TN-68, for drop impact events. The specific area examined is the behaviour of the bolted connections in the cask body and the closure lid, which are significantly loaded during the hypothetical drop impact event. Analytical work to evaluate the NRC certified TN-68 spent fuel transport cask for a 9 m (30 ft) drop impact event on a flat, unyielding, horizontal surface, was performed using the ANSY...