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Title: Risk assessment of drain valve failure in the K-West basin south loadout pit

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/782429· OSTI ID:782429

The drain valve located in the bottom of the K-West Basin South Loadout Pit (SLOP) could provide an additional leak path from the K Basins if the drain valve were damaged during construction, installation, or operation of the cask loading system. For the K-West Basin SLOP the immersion pail support structure (IPSS) has already been installed, but the immersion pail has not been installed in the IPSS. The objective of this analysis is to evaluate the risk of damaging the drain valve during the remaining installation activities or operation of the cask loading system. Valve damage, as used in this analysis, does not necessarily imply large amounts of the water will be released quickly from the basin, rather valve damage implies that the valve's integrity has been compromised. The analysis process is a risk-based uncertainty analysis where best engineering judgement is used to represent each variable in the analysis. The uncertainty associated with each variable is represented by a probability distribution. The uncertainty is propagated through the analysis by Monte Carlo convolution techniques. The corresponding results are developed as a probability distribution and the risk is expressed in terms of the corresponding complementary cumulative distribution function (''risk curve''). The total risk is the area under the ''risk curve''. The risk of potentially dropping a cask into or on the IPSS and damaging the drain valve is approximately 1 x 10{sup -4} to 2 x 10{sup -5} per year. The risk of objects falling behind the IPSS and damaging the valve is 3 x 10{sup -2} to 6 x 10{sup -3} per year. Both risks are expressed as drain value failure frequencies. The risk of objects falling behind the IPSS and damaging the valve can be significantly reduced by an impact limiter and/or installing a gating or plate over the area bounded by the back of the IPSS and the wall of the SLOP. With either of these actions there is a 90 percent confidence that the frequency of drain valve failure would be less than 1 x 10{sup -6} per year.

Research Organization:
Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US DOE Office of Environmental Management (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-96RL13200
OSTI ID:
782429
Report Number(s):
SNF-2671-REV1; TRN: US200221%%648
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 23 Jun 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English