Application of the ASME Code to Radioactive Material Packaging/Cask: Lessons Learned From the 2014 DOE Training Course

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Packaging Certification Program (PCP), Office of Packaging and Transportation, Office of Environmental Management, has sponsored a suite of training courses that are conducted annually by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) in support of safety and security of nuclear and other radioactive material packages. One of these courses conducted by Argonne since 2000 is the Application of the ASME Code to Radioactive Material Transportation Packaging, which was expanded significantly in 2014 to include dry storage casks, resulting in a change in course title to the Application of the ASME Code to Radioactive Material Packaging/Cask. The purpose of the course is to provide guidance for the application of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code (“ASME Code”) to transportation packaging and storage cask of radioactive materials, including used (or spent) nuclear fuel and high-level waste, and to facilitate the design, fabrication, examination, and testing of packagings and casks. Both regulatory requirements in 10 CFR Parts 71 and 72 and the ASME Code requirements for transportation and storage containments are addressed, with emphasis on the Code Section III, Division 3, “Containments for Transportation and Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High Level Radioactive Material and Waste.” Among the specific topics covered are the application of the ASME Code requirements to structural materials, containments, loading and design; the design of containment internal support structures and buckling analysis; fabrication, welding, examination, and test requirements; quality assurance; physical testing, structural and thermal modeling and analysis considerations; and containment, shielding, and criticality analysis considerations. Special topics covered include non-Code materials, hydrogen gas generation, and aging management for extended long-term storage of used fuel and subsequent transportation. The expanded training course was offered in June 2014 at Argonne with 27 participants representing mainly industry and government agencies. On the basis of the feedback and course evaluation by the participants, the course may be expanded from 3 to 4.5 days in the future to allow more time for in-class discussion and exercises, as well as to include additional topics related to aging management for extended long-term storage of used fuel and its post-storage transportation. The course provides insight into the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) transportation and storage cask certification processes. The target audience is DOE, DOE contractors, other agency personnel, and commercial transportation packaging and storage cask engineering employees. Those responsible for designing, fabricating, testing, or packaging and casks, as well as preparing or reviewing the associated Safety Analysis Reports, will also benefit from the course.