NUMERICAL STRESS ANALYSIS OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TRANSPORT PACKAGE IN NORMAL AND ACCIDENT CONDITIONS

Russian Federal Nuclear Center – VNIIEF has designed a package for transportation of the cartridges with bundles of spent fuel elements. The paper presents the results of application of 3D numerical simulation technology to prove the ability of the package to withstand the normal condition of transport and the hypothetical accident conditions. The detailed finite element model is developed to carry out the analysis. 23 loading cases, including combinations of different loads, are investigated. The comparison of the numerical results to the experimental data, obtained using full-scale model of the package, shows high accuracy of the numerical analysis. The computer simulations are performed using highly parallel computer code LOGOS («STRENGTH» module), developed by Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF.