Safety analysis of irradiated RBMK-1500 nuclear fuel transportation in newly developed container

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and design Vol. 240; no. 10; pp. 3521 - 3528
• Main Authors: Rimkevičius, S., Ušpuras, E., Dundulis, G., Laurinavičius, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Controled nuclear fusion plants; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fission nuclear power plants; Fuels; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Nuclear fuels; Preparation and processing of nuclear fuels; Graphite moderated reactor; Nuclear safety; Container; Accident; Decommissioning; Nuclear power plant; Structure integrity; Nuclear fuel; Safety; Irradiated nuclear fuel; Criticality; Nuclear reactor
• ISSN: 0029-5493; 1872-759X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2010.06.027

Ignalina NPP (Lithuania) comprises two Units with RBMK-1500 reactors. After the Unit 1 of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was shut down in 2004, approximately 1000 fuel assemblies from Unit 1 were available for further reuse in Unit 2. The fuel-transportation container, vehicle, protection shaft and other necessary equipment were designed in order to implement the process for on-site transportation of Unit 1 fuel for reuse in the Unit 2. The developed equipment can be used also in decommissioning phase for fuel transportation to fuel storage facilities. The set of this equipment can be applied for NPPs with RBMK type reactors. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the content and main results of safety analysis, focusing attention on the container used for spent fuel transportation. The structural integrity, thermal, radiological and nuclear criticality safety calculations are performed to assess the acceptance of the proposed set of equipment. The safety analysis demonstrated that the proposed nuclear fuel-transportation container and other equipment are in compliance with functional, design and regulatory requirements, assure the required safety level for both normal operation and accident conditions and can be used for fuel transportation.