State of Nevada Nuclear Waste Shipping Cask Design Studies

Halstead, Robert; di Bartolo, Russell; ,

State of Nevada Nuclear Waste Shipping Cask Design Studies

by Robert Halstead, Agency for Nuclear Projects, Nuclear Waste Project Office, United States,
Russell di Bartolo, Agency for Nuclear Projects, Nuclear Waste Project Office, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Level Radioactive Waste Management 1990

Abstract:

The State of Nevada has sponsored several contractor studies regarding nuclear waste shipping cask design issues. A comprehensive transportation needs assessment completed in 1988 recommended a number of major changes in the U.S. Department of Energy's current cask development program, including more rigorous cask performance standards to reflect severe accident conditions and greater consideration of human error in all phases of cask design, certification, manufacture and operation. Three contractor studies currently in final review explore specific cask design issues identified in the transportation needs assessment. The preliminary findings of these studies are: 1) the cask development program should be fully integrated with the larger waste management system, and must accommodate congressional decisions regarding monitored retrievable storage, utility decisions regarding at-reactor storage and uncertainties about modal mix; 2) the cask development program should give greater consideration to physical testing of casks and components prior to finalization of new cask designs; and 3) the cask development program should not rely on the Modal Study's conclusions regarding shipping cask response to severe accident conditions.

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