Development of a PIE-Fuel Shipping Cask (MSF-1)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) recently developed a PIE (Post Irradiation Examination)-fuel shipping cask (MSF- I ). The objective of the development of the MSF- I cask was to provide a cask usable for transporting irradiated fuel from a nuclear power plant to a PIE facility or from there to a reprocessing facility. MHI began the development work in 1982 and obtained the licence approval for the cask from the Japanese competent authority (STA) in 1986. The MSF- I cask is able to transport not only regular fuel but also leak fuel, for both the cases, in the form of either an intact fuel assembly or disassembled fuel rods. The MSF- I cask was designed in consideration of the following: ·Capability of leak fuel transport. ·Capability of high burn up fuel transport aft.er a short cooling time. · Capability of APWR (Advanced-PWR) fuel transport.