DESIGN AND DEMONSTRATION OF THE TN-24 SPENT FUEL CASK FOR DRY STORAGE AND TRANSPORT

Storage of spent fuel is a common problem for many nuclear power plant operators worldwide. A shortage of space will soon become a reality because spent fuel storage pools, even after ro-racking, are too small for plant lifetimes, which, in turn, are tending increasingly to be longer. The storage pools currently represent the only possibility to store these spent fuels, though some systems have been proposed to solve this problem. While most of these systems are uncertain, or have not been tested, the metallic storage/transport casks of the TN-24 family are currently available to expand at the reactor storage capacity until an away from the reactor storage site, either a final disposal or a reprocessing site, becomes available. The paper deals with the TN-24 concept and the experience accumulated with a TN-24 cask which was fabricated and tested under active conditions.