scholarly journals Investigation of water-logged spent fuel rods under dry storage conditions

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kohli ◽  
V. Pasupathi
Keyword(s):  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Fuel Rods ◽  
Dry Storage

Dry Storage of Spent Research Reactor Fuel in Castor BR3® Casks at Belgoprocess in Belgium

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marnix Braeckeveldt ◽  
Luc Ooms ◽  
Gustaaf Geenen
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Nuclear Research ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Fuel Rods ◽  
Dry Storage ◽  
Nuclear Site ◽  
Test Reactor ◽  
Intermediate Storage ◽  
High Level

Abstract The BR3 reactor (10.5 MWe) at the Nuclear Research Center SCK•CEN was the first PWR plant installed in Europe and has been shut down in 1987. The BR3 reactor is from 1989 in a decommissioning stage and most of the spent fuel is presently still stored in the deactivation pool of the BR3 plant and has to be evacuated. The BR3 was used as a test-reactor for new fuel types and assemblies (Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel, fuel rods containing burnable poison (Gd2O3) and other types of fuels). Some fuel rods, having undergone a destructive analysis, are stored in different laboratories at the SCK•CEN. In total, the BR3 spent fuel comprises the equivalent of almost 200 fuel assemblies corresponding to some 5000 fuel rods. Beside the spent BR3 fuel, a limited number of spent fuel rods, with equivalent characteristics as the BR3 fuel but irradiated in research reactors outside Belgium and stored in other buildings at the SCK•CEN nuclear site, were added to the inventory of spent fuel to be evacuated. Various options such as reprocessing and intermediate storage awaiting final disposal were evaluated against criteria as available techniques, safety, waste production and overall costs. Finally the option of an AFR (away-from-reactor) intermediate dry storage of the BR3 and other spent fuel in seven CASTOR BR3® casks was adopted. As the SCK•CEN declared this spent fuel as radioactive waste, NIRAS/ONDRAF, the Belgian radioactive waste management agency became directly involved and the decision was taken to construct a small building at the Belgoprocess nuclear site for storing the CASTOR BR3® casks. Loading at the SCK•CEN followed by transport to Belgoprocess and storage is scheduled to take place at the end of 2001. The CASTOR BR3® cask weighing some 25 tonnes, consists of a monolithic body and has two independent lids with metal seals guaranteeing the long term leak-tightness of the cask. The CASTOR BR3® cask is designed for transport and the intermediate storage of at least 50 years. Although a defect of the leaktightness of a CASTOR BR3® cask is very unlikely to occur, an intervention scenario had to be developed. As no pool is present at the Belgoprocess nuclear site to unload the fuel, an innovative procedure is developed that consists of transferring the basket, containing the spent fuel, into another CASTOR BR3® cask. This operation can be performed in the hot cell of the existing storage building for high level waste at the Belgoprocess site.

Accelerated High-Temperature Tests with Spent PWR and BWR Fuel Rods Under Dry Storage Conditions

1986 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Porsch ◽  
Joachim Fleisch ◽  
Bernd Heits
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Fuel Rods ◽  
Dry Storage

A New Criterion for the Degradation of a Defective Spent Fuel Rod under Dry Storage Conditions Based on Nuclear Ceramic Cracking

2008 ◽  
Vol 1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Desgranges ◽  
François Charollais ◽  
Isabelle Felines ◽  
Cécile Ferry ◽  
Jean Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Storage Condition ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Nuclear Fuels ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Coated Particles ◽  
Fuel Rod ◽  
Dry Storage ◽  
Fuel Particles ◽  
New Criterion ◽  
Environmental Sem

AbstractExperimental results using environmental SEM on intentionally defected fuel particles showed that oxidation induced cracking could lead to the degradation of HTR coated particles. The interpretation proposed for the swelling resulting from cracking can be extended to irradiated nuclear fuels. That is why a new criterion was proposed to defined safe handling of defective fuel in dry storage condition. This criterion defines the time needed to create an oxidized layer thickness leading to significant cracking.

Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Integrity During Long-Term Dry Storage

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leroy Stewart ◽  
Mikal A. McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Fuel Rods ◽  
Dry Storage ◽  
Environmental Laboratory ◽  
Cooperative Project

Abstract The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management conducted spent nuclear fuel integrity and cask performance tests from 1984–1996 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Between 1994 and 1998, DOE also initiated a Spent Fuel Behavior Project that involved enhanced surveillance, monitoring, and gas-sampling activities for intact fuel in a GNS CASTOR V/21 cask and for consolidated fuel in a Sierra Nuclear VSC-17 cask. The results of these series of tests are reported in this paper. Presently, DOE is involved in a cooperative project to perform destructive evaluations of fuel rods that have been stored in the CASTOR V/21 cask. The results of those evaluations are presented elsewhere in these proceedings in a paper entitled “Examination of Spent PWR Fuel Rods after 15 years in Dry Storage”.

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