TESTING OF PACKAGES WITH LSA MATERIALS IN VERY SEVERE MECHANICAL IMPACT CONDITIONS WITH MEASUREMENT OF AIRBORNE RELEASE

To assess the risks associated with transport accidents involving solid LSA-II and LSA-III materials contained in industrial packages a comprehensive experimental program was conducted under the project leadership of GRS to quantify and characterize airborne release of radioactive particulate matter in transport and handling accidents with mechanical impact of varying severities and to determine the dependency from influencing parameters such as LSA material and packaging properties and size. The experimental approach combined wellcontrolled and very reproducible impact experiments with small scale specimens and drop tests of large scale specimens from different heights up to 27 m. In both cases the associated airborne release of particulate matter was determined by quantifying the amount and aerodynamic particle size characteristics of released dust. In the drop tests the volumes of specimens were varied systematically from 1 to 220 l and drop heights between 5 m and 27 m in order to enable extrapolation to other configurations of package sizes and impact severities. The LSA surrogate materials were either concrete used to immobilize radioactive wastes as representative brittle material or appropriately chosen powders representing dispersible materials. Drop tests were performed with the LSA material either contained within a packaging or without protecting packaging upon impact to determine the influence of the packaging on the airborne release. Based on the experimental results it can be concluded that the requirements of the current IAEA Transport Regulations sufficiently limit potential radiological consequences from transport accidents with mechanical impact involving packages with LSA-II or LSA-III materials.