Session: OAC-04-02 Transportation of Radioactive and other Hazardous Materials II

Paper Number: 62139

Start Time: Thursday, July 15, 2021, 09:00 AM

62139 - Fire-Induced Pressure Response and Failure of 3013 Containers 

Many Department of Energy (DOE) facilities have nuclear or hazardous materials stored in robust, welded, stainless steel containers with undetermined fire induced pressure response behaviors. Lack of test data related to fire exposure requires conservative safety analysis assumptions for container response.  These safety analysis assumptions often results in implementation of challenging operational restrictions and costly nuclear safety controls.

A series of tests were undertaken at Sandia National Laboratories to obtain the fire response behavior for pressurized releases of stainless steel containers. The characterization includes identification of failure-specific characteristics such as pressure and temperature, and leak / burst failure type to provide information for future estimates of the Airborne Release Fraction / Respirable Fraction (ARF / RF) associated with solid radioactive materials stored in various containers.

This paper describes the development of the test specifications for DOE 3013 containers.  The developed test specifications include the vessel payload composition, desired fire environments, and container configurations for a series of 10 fire exposure tests. Work performed by the collaborating institutions in creating the required payloads, creating the fire environments, and performing the 10 tests is described in this paper. Results from the series of tests performed under the design specifications are also discussed.

Presenting Author: Hector Mendoza Sandia National Laboratories

Authors:

Hector Mendoza Sandia National Laboratories
Austin Baird Sandia National Laboratories
Victor Figueroa Sandia National Laboratories
Walter Gill Sandia National Laboratories
Scott Sanborn Sandia National Laboratories
Stephen Hensel Savannah River Site (SRS) / Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS)