Experience in Wet Transport of Irradiated LWR Fuels

Between 1973 and 1988 British Nuclear Fuels plc and its subsidiary company Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited have transported more than 570 flask loads of LWR fuel comprising over 7,000 assemblies, in water-filled \"Excellox\" flasks on 79 sea voyages from Japan to the United Kingdom. During these shipments no incident has adversely affected a flask or its contents, and in every shipment the package has performed well within its design margins. The object of this paper is to describe how the design margins for these flask packages have been met and how the designs have been developed to meet new requirements and advancing experience.