Performance of Spent Fuel Transportation Casks in Severe Tunnel Fires

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl P. Easton ◽  
Christopher S. Bajwa ◽  
Robert Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Performance Study ◽  
Fire Scenario ◽  
Tunnel Fire ◽  
Accident Conditions

As part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) overall review of the performance of transportation casks under severe accident conditions, the NRC has undertaken a number of initiatives, including the Package Performance Study (PPS), described in USNRC Package Performance Study Test Protocols, NUREG-1768, which will test full size transportation casks in a severe accident, as well as an examination of the Baltimore tunnel fire of 2001. The final PPS test plan is currently under development by the NRC's Office of Research. The NRC, working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), performed analyses to predict the response of three different spent fuel transportation cask designs when exposed to a fire similar to that which occurred in the Howard Street railroad tunnel in downtown Baltimore, Maryland on July 18, 2001. NRC Staff evaluated the potential for a release of radioactive material from each of the three transportation casks analyzed for the Baltimore tunnel fire scenario. The results of these analyses are described in detail in Spent Fuel Transportation Package Response to the Baltimore Tunnel Fire Scenario, NUREG/CR-6886, published in draft for comment in November 2005.

Analysis of the Impact of a Tunnel Fire Environment on a Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation Cask

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Bajwa
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Tunnel Fire ◽  
Accident Conditions ◽  
The Impact

On July 18, 2001, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire in the Howard Street railroad tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland. Due to this accident, questions were raised about the performance of spent nuclear fuel transportation casks under severe fire conditions, similar to those experienced in the Baltimore tunnel fire. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) evaluates the performance of spent fuel transportation casks under accident conditions. Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 section 73(c)(4), (10 CFR 71.73(c)(4)) requires that transportation packages used to ship radioactive material must be designed to resist an engulfing fire of a 30 minute duration and prevent release of radioactive material to the environment. The staff of the NRC, in cooperation with the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Pacific Northwest National Labs and the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis, have undertaken an analysis to determine the thermal conditions present in the Howard Street tunnel fire, as well as analyze the effects that such a fire would have on a spent fuel transportation cask. This paper describes the analytic models used in the assessment and presents a discussion of the results.

Benchmarking of a Thermal Finite Element Approximation Scheme for Externally Cooled Spent Fuel Storage Casks

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Bajwa ◽  
Ian F. Spivack
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ◽  
Finite Element Approximation ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
Element Approximation ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Spent Fuel Storage ◽  
Fuel Storage ◽  
Regulatory Commission

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for licensing spent fuel storage casks under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 72 (10 CFR Part 72). Under these regulations, storage casks must be evaluated to verify that they meet various criteria, including acceptable thermal performance requirements. The purpose of the evaluation described in this paper is to establish the effectiveness of a medium-effort modeling approach and associated simplifying assumptions in closely approximating spent fuel cask component temperature distributions. This predictive evaluation is performed with the ANSYS® code, and is applicable to externally cooled cask designs. The results are compared against experimental measurements and predictions of the COBRA-SFS finite-difference code developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

An Analysis of a Spent Fuel Transportation Cask Under Severe Fire Accident Conditions

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Bajwa
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Severe Fire ◽  
Tunnel Fire ◽  
Accident Conditions ◽  
Regulatory Commission ◽  
Fire Accident

Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 section 73(c)(4), (10 CFR 71.73(c)(4)) requires that transportation packages used to ship radioactive material must be designed to resist an engulfing fire of a 30 minute duration and prevent release of radioactive material to the environment. In July, 2001, a derailed train carrying hazardous materials caught fire in a railroad tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland, and burned for several days. Although the occurrence of a fire of such duration during the shipment of spent nuclear fuel is unlikely, questions were raised about the performance of spent nuclear fuel casks under conditions similar to those experienced in the Baltimore tunnel fire incident. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission evaluates the performance of spent fuel transportation casks under accident conditions. The National Transportation Safety Board is responsible for investigating railroad accidents and identifying the probable cause(s) and offers recommendations for safety improvements. They are currently investigating the Baltimore tunnel fire accident. This paper assesses the performance of a spent fuel transportation cask with a welded canister under severe fire conditions. The paper describes the analytic model used for the assessment and presents a discussion of the preliminary results.

scholarly journals Spent Fuel Transportation Cask Response to the Caldecott Tunnel Fire Scenario

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Adkins ◽  
Brian Koeppel ◽  
Judith Cuta
Keyword(s):  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Fire Scenario ◽  
Tunnel Fire
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