Thermo-mechanical Study of Bare 48Y UF6 Containers Exposed to the Regulatory Fire Environment - Presentation

ABSTRACT Regulatory agencies may require that cylinders used for the transportation of natural UF6 and depleted UF6 survive a fully-engulfing fire environment for 30 minutes as described in TS-R-1. The primary objective of this project is to examine the thermo-mechanical performance of 48Y transportation cylinders when exposed to the regulatory hypothetical fire environment using advanced analysis techniques to optimize the thermal protection that is currently used for shipments in those countries where such protection is required. Several studies have been performed in which UF6 cylinders have been analyzed to determine if the thermal protection currently used on 48Y cylinders is necessary for transport. However, these studies reached different conclusions on the survival time of a bare 48Y cylinder when exposed to the regulatory fire environment. As a result, a consortium of companies that transportUF6 is interested in optimizing the current thermal protectors for 48-inch cylinders. Sandia National Laboratories has outlined a comprehensive analysis project to determine if the current thermal protectors for 48-inch cylinders can practically and economically be optimized while withstanding the regulatory thermal environment. Sandia-developed coupled physics codes will be used for the analyses that are planned. The analyses will consider the state of UF6 under thermal and pressure loads as well as the weakening of the steel container due to the thermal load.