DEVELOPMENT OF A SHIPPING CASK FOR CHOPPED FUEL PRODUCED BY POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION

In Japan, post-irradiation examination (PIE) of nuclear fuels is being carried out quite frequently and the number of chopped fuel rods resulting from tltis has been increasing every year. The Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) has developed a shipping cask, P-3S( I 2T), to transport these chopped fuel rods from the PIE facilities to the PNC reprocessing plant at the Tokai Works. The cask consists of three independent vessels, the inner, intermediate and containment vessels. Intended to be handled at existing facilities, tltis cask has distinctive structural features that enable the fuel to be loaded vertically by using winches at PIE facilities. The fUel can be unloaded horizontally by using thrust rods at the reprocessing plant. Moreover, tltis cask is designed to prevent leakage of radioactive materials by maintaining the cask cavity at a negative pressure during transportation.