Investigations on potential methods for the long-term monitoring of the state of fuel elements in dry storage casks
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U. Hampel
Abstract
Extended dry storage of spent nuclear fuel is a relevant issue in many countries operating nuclear power plants. Beside regulatory and security aspects there are questions with respect to the long-term integrity of the spent fuel as this is of relevance for final transportation and reloading to final waste repository casks. Within the frame of the BMWi project DCS-MONITOR, we investigate the potentials of different methods for non-intrusive monitoring of dry cask storage containers with spent nuclear fuel. These are thermography, radiation-based methods, and acoustic methods. For all of them we study the sensitivity and cross-sensitivity with respect to defined changes in the nuclear fuel distribution inside the containers. The analyses are mainly based on numerical simulations but also include some dedicated experimental studies.
Kurzfassung
Mit der verlängerten Zwischenlagerung von abgebrannten Brennelementen ergeben sich verschiedene regulatorische und sicherheitstechnische Fragestellungen. Eine davon ist die nach der Langzeitintegrität der Brennelemente in den Behältern. Ihre Beantwortung hat direkte Relevanz für den späteren Transport zum Endlager und die Umladung des abgebrannten Kernbrennstoffs in andere Behälter. Im Rahmen des vom BMWi geförderten Vorhabens DCS-MONITOR untersuchen wir Potenziale und Grenzen von nichtintrusiven Verfahren zur Überwachung des Zustands des radioaktiven Inventars von Trockenlagerbehältern. Als solche betrachten wir die Thermographie, strahlungsbasierte Messverfahren sowie akustische Messverfahren. Für diese erfolgt eine Bewertung der Empfindlichkeit und Nachweisgrenzen, vorzugsweise durch Nutzung numerischer Simulationen aber auch ausgewählter Experimente.
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© 2018, Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Editorial
- Safety of extended dry storage of spent nuclear fuel – GRS workshop 2018
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- CIEMAT response to challenges on fuel safety research during dry storage
- Research activities at GRS on fuel rod behaviour during extended dry storage
- Open questions on the road to reliable predictions of cladding integrity
- Considerations on spent fuel behavior for transport after extended storage
- Investigations of the hydrogen diffusion and distribution in Zirconium by means of Neutron Imaging
- Effect of Zirconium Hydrides on the mechanical behavior of cladding
- Response of irradiated nuclear fuel rods to quasi-static and dynamic loads
- Investigations on potential methods for the long-term monitoring of the state of fuel elements in dry storage casks
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Editorial
- Safety of extended dry storage of spent nuclear fuel – GRS workshop 2018
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- CIEMAT response to challenges on fuel safety research during dry storage
- Research activities at GRS on fuel rod behaviour during extended dry storage
- Open questions on the road to reliable predictions of cladding integrity
- Considerations on spent fuel behavior for transport after extended storage
- Investigations of the hydrogen diffusion and distribution in Zirconium by means of Neutron Imaging
- Effect of Zirconium Hydrides on the mechanical behavior of cladding
- Response of irradiated nuclear fuel rods to quasi-static and dynamic loads
- Investigations on potential methods for the long-term monitoring of the state of fuel elements in dry storage casks
