Failure probability assessment of SNF cladding transverse tearing under a hypothetical transportation accident

This paper presents a structural assessment of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod under drop accident of a transport cask using deterministic and probabilistic approaches. The performed case study is a baseline 9-m side-drop scenario during the first 30 years of dry storage. A hypothetical database is gen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear engineering and design 2021-08, Vol.379, p.111265, Article 111265
Main Authors: Almomani, Belal, Chang, Yoon-Suk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents
Barrels
Cladding failure
Constitutive models
Dynamic analysis
Dynamic response
Evaluation
Failure analysis
Finite element method
Material properties
Mathematical models
Mechanical properties
Monte Carlo simulation
Nuclear fuel elements
Probabilistic assessment
Spent fuel
Spent nuclear fuels
Statistical analysis
Structural integrity
Tearing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper presents a structural assessment of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod under drop accident of a transport cask using deterministic and probabilistic approaches. The performed case study is a baseline 9-m side-drop scenario during the first 30 years of dry storage. A hypothetical database is generated for five variables related to operating conditions to predict the changes in the mechanical properties of SNF rod using Monte Carlo Simulation and material constitutive models. Finite-element analyses are conducted including a sophisticated transport cask with simplified fuel assemblies to obtain the acceleration response and a detailed full-length single fuel rod to evaluate the deformation response of fuel cladding with various representative material properties. Failure probabilities of a fuel rod subjected to a transverse inertia loading due to side-drop are estimated based on ductile tearing failure criteria. The findings from the dynamic response analysis show that the cladding might yield owing to the 9-m side-drop, but the structural integrity of SNF rod is generally maintained. Yet the probabilistic assessment highlights the importance of conducting further structural integrity evaluation for high burnup fuel under hypothetical accidents as it initially shows concerned failure probabilities comparing to low and intermediate burnup fuel. The modeling technique and analysis methodology outlined in this study have a potential advantage to consider several geometric and material characteristics of SNF rod, hence improving the structural integrity assessment of SNF further.
ISSN:0029-5493
1872-759X
DOI:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111265