CRITICALITY SAFETY TRANSPORT INDEX CALCULATIONS FOR TRANSPORT CASK DESIGN OF EK-10 SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS

The results of the TNDSFP Code for thermo-nuclear design of spent fuel elements package are presented in this investigation. The code comprises both the transient analysis of a matched thermal-nuclear model to get the maximum clad surface temperature of the spent fuel elements during transportation and the nuclear criticality safety control index for the package design. The code is used to design a square arrayed dry cask of an assumed inner dimensions of 3Scm.x3Scm. to transport spent fuel elements. The data are taken from the EK-10 spent fuel elements. The results showed that the EK-10 spent fuel elements- after kept cooled in the storage pool for 3 months - can be safely transported - from nuclear and thermal points of view - in a square arrayed dry cask of inner dimensions 3Scm.x3Scm. containing up to 100 spent fuel elements (10x10 array) when stowed at a pitch of 3.Scm. In such case, the maximum clad surface temperature reaches 160.4 °C and the criticality safety transport index (Tl) for such cask design equals 8.439 and this package can be safely transported up to 75 days transport time duration.