On the requirement for remodelling the spent nuclear fuel transportation casks for research reactors; A Review of the drop impact analyses of JRC-80Y-20T

Review Group on the Structure of the Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation Casks for

The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) constructed two stainless steel transportation casks, JRC-80Y-20T, for spent nuclear fuels of research reactors and had utilized them for transportation since 1981. A modification of the design was applied to the USA for transportation of silicide fuels. Additional analyses employing the impact analysis code LS-DYNA that was often used for safety analysis were submitted by the JAERI to the USA to show integrity of the packages; the casks were still not approved, because inelastic deformation was occurred on the surface of the lid touching to the body. To resolve this problem on design approval of transportation casks, a review group was formed at the end of this June. The group examined the impact analyses by reviewing the input data and performing the sensitivity analyses. As the drop impact analyses were found to be practically reasonable, it was concluded that the approval of the USA for the transportation casks could not be obtained just by revising the analyses; therefore, remodelling the casks is required.