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Title: Impact limiter design for a lightweight tritium hydride vessel transport container

Conference ·
OSTI ID:174685

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has designed an impact-limiting system for a small, lightweight radioactive material shipping container. The Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) is developing this Type B package for the shipment of tritium, replacing the outdated LP-50 shipping container. Regulatory accident resistance requirements for Type B packages, including this new tritium package, are specified in 10 CFR 71 (NRC 1983). The regulatory requirements include a 9-meter free drop onto an unyielding target, a 1-meter drop onto a mild steel punch, and a 30-minute 800{degrees} C fire test. Impact limiters are used to protect the package in the free-drop accident condition in any impact orientation without hindering the package`s resistance to the thermal accident condition. The overall design of the new package is based on a modular concept using separate thermal shielding and impact mitigating components in an attempt to simplify the design, analysis, test, and certification process. Performance requirements for the tritium package`s limiting system are based on preliminary estimates provided by WSRC. The current tritium hydride vessel (THV) to be transported has relatively delicate valving assemblies and should not experience acceleration levels greater than approximately 200 g`s. A thermal overpack and outer stainless steel shell, to be designed by WSRC, will form the inner boundary of the impact-limiting system (see Figure 1). The mass of the package, including cargo, inner container, thermal overpack, and outer stainless steel shell (not including impact limiters) should be approximately 68 kg. Consistent with the modular design philosophy, the combined thermal overpack and containment system should be considered essentially rigid, with the impact limiters incurring all deformation.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
174685
Report Number(s):
SAND-95-0184C; CONF-951203-10; ON: DE96003645; TRN: 96:003690
Resource Relation:
Conference: PATRAM `95: 11. international conference on packaging and transportation of radioactive materials, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 3-8 Dec 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English