Safety assessment of spent-fuel transportation in extreme environments

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6794758

Sandoval, R P; Weber, J P; Newton, G J

Preliminary estimates of the health effects and/or consequences resulting from a malevolent attack on a spent fuel truck shipment in downtown New York City have been made. This estimate is based upon a measured quantity (0.78 +- 0.05 g) of respirable radioactive material released from a 1/4 scale event. A linear extrapolation from the 1/4 scale event to the generic full scale event has been made and an aerosolized release fraction (0.0023 percent) of the total heavy metal inventory of a three-PWR assembly truck cask has been calculated. Although scaling of the source term parameters is tentative at this point in the program, a full scale experiment is planned in 1981 to verify the scaling methodology used in these calculations. A preliminary correlation between spent fuel and surrogate fuel source terms has been shown to be feasible and that radionuclide size partitioning can be determined experimentally. Finally, it has been shown, based on our preliminary experimental source term data, that a maximum of 25 total latent cancer fatalities could occur, assuming a release in downtown New York City. This is 20 times smaller than the latent cancer fatalities predicted in the Urban Study.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Inhalation Toxicology Research Inst., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6794758
• Report Number(s): SAND-80-2043C; CONF-810217-13
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

054000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
560151 -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACCIDENTS
AEROSOLS
CASKS
COLLOIDS
CONTAINERS
DISEASES
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
MATERIALS
MID-ATLANTIC REGION
NEOPLASMS
NEW YORK
NEW YORK CITY
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FUELS
PARTICLE SIZE
RADIOACTIVE AEROSOLS
REACTOR MATERIALS
SABOTAGE
SIZE
SOLS
SPENT FUEL CASKS
SPENT FUELS
TRANSPORT
URBAN AREAS
USA