Substantiation of a Type B(M)F Radioactive Material Transportation Package by Finite Element Analysis

The approval of nuclear transport packages requires the demonstration of performance against the regulatory tests. This has typically required a significant amount of physical testing with the concomitant time and cost implications. The capability of the analysis techniques used in the industry in the substantiation of package designs has advanced significantly in the last few years to the point where it has become conceivable that little or no physical testing could be required in the assessment of a transport package against the regulatory tests. A paper presented by Rolls-Royce at PATRAM2007 described the use of the non-linear Finite Element code LS-DYNA in the substantiation of a new package for the transport of new nuclear fuel. The paper concluded that explicit analysis codes were so reliable for package impact calculations that minimal test work could be pursued, limited to key confirmatory impact scenarios. This paper describes the analysis approach adopted to substantiate the performance of Type B(M)F package using FE analysis without validation provided by physical testing of a full or scale model. It discusses the key areas of investigation, the methods used and how the substantiation of previous packages has been used in support of the assessment.© 2018 Rolls-Royce