STRUCTURAL EVALUATION OF A SHIELDED TRANSFER CASK SYSTEM FOR INTRA PLANT SPENT FUEL TRANSFER -Presentation

Intra Plant transfer movement of spent fuel between units can be accomplished using a shielded transfer cask anchored to a high capacity trailer supported by pneumatic tires. The spent fuel is contained in a stainless steel canister with a bolted lid to allow for loading and unloading of the spent fuel. In this paper, two separate evaluations are presented to confirm the safety of such a system. The seismic event controls the design of the tie down system used to prevent the transfer cask on the trailer from tipping over. Since the wheeled vehicle has a broad band of possible properties, a series of time histories are perform to define the envelope of loading that could be imposed on the tie down system. The system is assumed to be subjected to a non-mechanistic tip over. A subsequent evaluation is performed using a separate model to ensure that the canister maintains confinement and that the internal structure (basket) maintains the position of the fuel during this event. This analysis employs a detailed model of the shielded transfer cask, bolted canister, basket, and fuel. To capture the nonlinear behavior of the system, each lead brick and the individual elements of the basket was modeled. Results for the transfer cask, canister and basket evaluations show that confine