Session: OAC-04-02 Storage and Transportation of Radioactive and other Hazardous Materials - 2

Paper Number: 101456

101456 - Storage Life and Surveillance of the 9975 Shipping Package 

The 9975 shipping package is utilized at the US Department of Energy Savannah River Site (SRS) for long term storage of plutonium bearing materials.  The materials were packaged at various locations in both welded 3013 containers and can-bag-can packaging configurations prior to shipment to SRS.  Some of these materials packaged in 3013 containers have been stored for 20 years while other can-bag-can packages have been stored less than 5 years.  Ongoing 9975 surveillance activities have provided important data regarding the slow degradation of the 9975 shipping package components.  The surveillance activities include both field data collection and targeted laboratory testing.  Field data includes physical measurements of ~10 shipping packages and destructive examination of one shipping package per year.  Hypothetical fire and impact accidents have been evaluated using the degraded component physical property data as input to computer simulations of the hypothetical accidents.  The analyses demonstrate zero release in that all plutonium materials are contained inside the package.  These analyses have been used as the technical basis for up to a 40-year storage life for the 9975 package with a 3013 container.  The 40-year storage life is predicated on continued data gathering via surveillance.  For the can-bag can configuration the storage life is currently limited to 20 years.   Methodology and results regarding the 9975 surveillance program and the accident analyses are presented.

Presenting Author: Steve Hensel SRNS

Presenting Author Biography: Steve graduated from Texas A&M University in 1984 with BS in nuclear engineering and in 1990 with a PhD in mechanical engineering. Steve has worked at the US DOE Savannah River Site since 1990. He is an ASME Fellow and primarily works on plutonium storage safety.

Authors:

Steve J. Hensel SRNS
Andrew J. O'Grady Savannah River Nuclear Solutions