Spent Fuel Drying System Test Results (Dry-Run in Preparation for Run 8)
The water-filled K-Basins in the Hanford 100 Area have been used to store N-Reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) since the 1970s. Because some leaks in the basin have been detected and some of the fuel is breached due to handling damage and corrosion, efforts are underway to remove the fuel elements from wet storage. An Integrated Process Strategy (IPS) has been developed to package, dry, transport, and store these metallic uranium fuel elements in an interim storage facility on the Hanford Site (WHC 1995). Information required to support the development of the drying processes, and the required safety analyses, is being obtained from characterization tests conducted on fuel elements removed from the K-Basins. A series of whole element drying tests (reported in separate documents, see Section 7.0) have been conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)(a)on several intact and damaged fuel elements recovered from both the K-East and K-West Basins. This report documents the results of a test ''dry-run'' conducted prior to the eighth and last of those tests, which was conducted on an N-Reactor outer fuel element removed from K-West canister6513U. The system used for the dry-run test was the Whole Element Furnace Testing System, described in Section 2.0, located in the Postirradiation Testing Laboratory (PTL, 327 Building). The test conditions and methodologies are given in Section 3.0. The experimental results are provided in Section 4.0 and discussed Section 5.0.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 9568
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-12136; R&D Project: 30220; TRN: US0103155
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 11 Aug 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Drying results of K-Basin fuel element 1990 (Run 1)
Drying Results of K-Basin Fuel Element 6513U (Run 8)