Spent nuclear fuel integrity during dry storage - performance tests and demonstrations
This report summarizes the results of fuel integrity surveillance determined from gas sampling during and after performance tests and demonstrations conducted from 1983 through 1996 by or in cooperation with the US DOE Office of Commercial Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM). The cask performance tests were conducted at Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) between 1984 and 1991 and included visual observation and ultrasonic examination of the condition of the cladding, fuel rods, and fuel assembly hardware before dry storage and consolidation of fuel, and a qualitative determination of the effects of dry storage and fuel consolidation on fission gas release from the spent fuel rods. The performance tests consisted of 6 to 14 runs involving one or two loading, usually three backfill environments (helium, nitrogen, and vacuum backfills), and one or two storage system orientations. The nitrogen and helium backfills were sampled and analyzed to detect leaking spent fuel rods. At the end of each performance test, periodic gas sampling was conducted on each cask. A spent fuel behavior project (i.e., enhanced surveillance, monitoring, and gas sampling activities) was initiated by DOE in 1994 for intact fuel in a CASTOR V/21 cask and for consolidated fuel in a VSC-17 cask. The results of the gas sampling activities are included in this report. Information on spent fuel integrity is of interest in evaluating the impact of long-term dry storage on the behavior of spent fuel rods. Spent fuel used during cask performance tests at INEL offers significant opportunities for confirmation of the benign nature of long-term dry storage. Supporting cask demonstration included licensing and operation of an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at the Virginia Power (VP) Surry reactor site. A CASTOR V/21, an MC-10, and a Nuclear Assurance NAC-I28 have been loaded and placed at the VP ISFSI as part of the demonstration program. 13 refs., 14 figs., 9 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 527885
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL--11576; ON: DE97053367
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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