1648C Impact Validation And Verification

International Nuclear Services is the design authority for a nuclear transport package known as the 1648C. This package was to be re-licensed to transport fissile contents. This required verifying that the package response accurately reflected the physical response in ACT impact conditions; however the 1648C has never been physically drop tested. All previous licenses and justifications of the 1648C have been based upon computer simulations and sufficiently similar responses to an earlier package known as the 1648A. This validation work looked to accurately model the drop test of the 1648A carried out in 1980, and show how the design changes following the drop test led to a different production model being built which was in turn more robust. A new FEA model has been built using modern techniques to recertify the 1648C. The model assessed provides a means of certifying the package for future shipments of radioactive material. The FEA model of the 1648C was compared with the FEA model of the 1648A, which had been validated against the physical drop tests. All analyses completed successfully and agreement proved to be good between the FEA models and the physical drop test report for the 1648A. The 1648C package performed as anticipated, given the similarity of the designs.