Review of Criteria for Nuclear Criticality Safety Control in Transportation

Conference · Fri Apr 07 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:7045228

Thomas, J. T. ^[1]; Smith, D. R. ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Union Carbine Nuclear Division
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Basic elements in the review of criteria for nuclear criticality safety in transportation are the magnitudes of reactivity changes that may occur to a shipment of packages and those inherent in the regulatory procedure of assessment. The generic representation of criticality of reflected arrays of uncontained fissionable materials is used as a basis for comparison of packaged fissionable materials. The reactivities associated with array changes and perturbations representative of credible conditions that may occur in storage or transportation are summarized for air-spaced units of fissionable materials. Calculations of packaged fissionable material determined reactivities associated with similar changes to arrays of packages. Typical thermal insulating materials being studied are Celotex, wood, Foamglas, and a bonded vermiculite. The effect on the array neutron multiplication of these, with and without steel as an inner and outer container material, is examined. The present stage of the study has produced results illustrating the variable margin of subcriticality manifested by the criteria. Depending upon the packaging, mass loading and array reflector condition, the margin of subcriticality can be of the order of 1% in k_eff.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Union Carbine Nuclear Division; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); USDOE Office of Energy Technology, Waste Management Division
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7045228
• Report Number(s): CONF-780506-22
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050900* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
420203 -- Engineering-- Handling Equipment & Procedures
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCIDENTS
Array Reflector Condition
CRITICALITY
Fissionable Materials
Hansen-Roach 16-Group Cross-Section Library
KENO Monte Carlo Code
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PACKAGING
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
SAFETY
TRANSPORT
Transport Index (TI)