REGULATORY FIRE TEST REQUIREMENTS FOR PLUTONIUM AIR TRANSPORT PACKAGES: JP-4 OR JP-5 VS. JP-8 AVIATION FUEL

Year
2010
Author(s)
Victor G. Figueroa - Sandia National Laboratories
Carlos Lopez - Sandia National Laboratories
Vernon F. Colette Vernon F. Nicolette - Sandia National Laboratories
Abstract
For certification, packages used for the transportation of plutonium by air must survive the hypothetical thermal environment specified in 10CFR71.74(a)(5). This regulation specifies that “the package must be exposed to luminous flames from a pool fire of JP-4 or JP-5 aviation fuel for a period of at least 60 minutes.” This regulation was developed when jet propellant JP-4 and JP-5 were the standard jet fuels. However, JP-4 and JP-5 currently are of limited availability in the United States of America. JP-4 is very hard to obtain as it is not used much anymore. JP-5 may be easier to get than JP-4, but only through a military supplier. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that readily-available JP-8 fuel is a possible substitute for the aforementioned certification test. Comparisons between the properties of the three fuels are given. Results from computer simulations that compared large JP-4 to JP-8 pool fires using Sandia’s VULCAN fire model are shown and discussed. The paper recommends JP-8 as an alternate fuel that complies with the thermal environment implied in 10CFR71.74.