Behaviour of Neutron Moderator Materials at High Temperatures in CASTOR®-Casks: Qualification and Assessment

The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) is the responsible German authority for the assessment of mechanical and thermal designs of transport and storage casks for radioactive materials. BAM checks up the proofs of the applicants in their safety reports and assesses the conformity to the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material [1, 2]. One applicant is the Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Behälter mbH (GNB) with a new generation of transport and storage casks of CASTOR® -design. GNB typically uses ultra high molecular weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the moderation of free neutrons. Rods made of UHMW-PE are positioned in axial bore holes in the wall of the cask and plates of UHMW-PE are in free spaces between primary and secondary lid and between the bottom of the cask and an outer plate (Figure 1). Because of the heat generated by the radioactive inventory and because of a strained spring at the bottom of every bore hole, UHMWPE is subjected to permanent thermal and mechanical loads as well as loads from gamma and neutron radiation. UHMW-PE has been used under routine- and normal conditions of transport for maximum temperatures up to 130 °C. For new generations of CASTOR® -design maximum temperatures will be increased up to 160 °C. That means a permanent use of UHMW-PE at temperatures within and above the melting region of the crystallites. In this paper, some results of special investigations for the proofs of usability of UHMW-PE at temperatures up to 160 °C under real conditions of transport and storage in CASTOR® -casks are given. For that, investigations on temperature dependent expansion behaviour under laboratory conditions as well as in large scale experiments, especially in the case of multiple heating and cooling, were done. Besides, geometrical creep strength for long-term loading by temperatures and pressures with regard to the chemical and physical stability properties of UHMW-PE above the melting region of crystallites were analyzed. BAM took part in the tests implemented by GNB and assessed the results in the sense mentioned above.