Year
2004
File Attachment
4-7_057.pdf98.42 KB
Abstract
An industry consortium of owners of large (i.e., the 48-inch or 48X and 48Y) cylinders commissioned an independent study to evaluate the safety of using thermal protective covers on the cylinders and the likelihood that the cylinders would experience the regulations’ hypothetical thermal accident. The study examined the demonstrable risks of the protective covers, i.e., increased dose to workers and the potential for accidents associated with the extra handling, vs. the theoretical risk of the UF6 cylinders’ encountering the hypothetical fire, to evaluate the appropriateness of using the thermal protective covers. One of the requirements of the IAEA regulations, Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, 1996 (Revised), TS-R-1, is that any uranium hexafluoride (UF6) cylinder designed to contain 0.1 kg or more of material meet the thermal conditions of the regulations’ hypothetical accident if Unilateral Approval is sought. The cylinder acceptance criterion is that the loaded cylinder sustains the thermal test environment for 30 minutes without rupture. The industry consortium mentioned above developed two designs to add thermal protection to these cylinders containing non-fissile and fissile-excepted UF6.