Preparations and examinations necessary for obtaining a licence for transporting radiolysable material

The Phébus FP project is an international project in the field of severe accidents that is performed by IRSN in the Phébus facility operated by CEA on the site of Cadarache in France and involves many international institutes as well as the European Commission. It consists of a series of tests in which a 20 fuel rods bundle of 1m-long (18 pre-irradiated UO2 fuel rods and 2 fresh fuel rods) was subjected to overheating (to simulate the loss of coolant) under various conditions and allowed to degrade and form a molten corium pool. The FPT1 test bundle (a test under flowing steam conditions) was transported to ITU to perform post –irradiation examination (PIE) at different locations. The bundle was stabilised by filling with epoxy resin to enable sectioning. This was followed by considerable microscopy observations & analysis of the bundle. After the experimental campaign had been completed, it was necessary to return the bundle to CEA at Cadarache. However, the licensing authorities did not permit such transport in the casks used to bring the bundle to ITU due to possible risks associated with the radiolysis of the embedding resin (and consequent hazardous gas generation) caused by the elevated radioactivity of the irradiated material. This presentation details the gas analysis carried out by ITU for CEA that enabled accurate radiolysis estimates to be made and submitted to the French authorities and transport company. The outcome of this campaign of measurements allowed proposing acceptable conditions for the FPT 1 bundle return transport.

BOTTOMLEY Paul;  NEU Jean-Marc;  UHLIG Matthias;  WEGEN Detlef;  FORS Patrick;  CARBOL Paul;  GLATZ Jean-Paul;  RONDINELLA Vincenzo;  PAPAIOANNOU Dimitrios;  SIMONDI-TEISSEIRE Beatrice;  JOUDON A.; 

2012-03-20

ROSATOM STATE NUCLEAR ENERGY CORPORATION

JRC67120

http://hotlab.sckcen.be/en/Proceedings,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC67120,