- Status
- Closed
Background
A cask for transportation of spent nuclear fuel from VVER 440 reactors (also called TK-6 spent fuel flask) had been developed in the Russian Federation and was in use for transportation of VVER 440 spent fuel in the Russian Federation and Central and Eastern Europe.
In the TACIS 1993 Nuclear Safety programme, the European Commission launched a project to perform an independent safety assessment of the cask (see also Contract 23578). The present contract was raised as an addendum to contract 23578 to cover additional costs for activities not envisaged in the original Terms of Reference.
Objectives
The overall objective of the whole project (Contracts 23578 and 25283) was to perform a safety assessment of the cask in accordance with the Type B requirements of the IAEA Transport Regulations of 1985. More specifically it aimed at the engineering assessment of the safety aspects of cask design, manufacturing, and testing. It also addressed quality assurance requirements at all stages of the process of developing and procuring the cask.
The two year project commenced in 1996 and was implemented by Ove Arup & Partners International, Consulting Engineers, with the subcontractors All-Russian Design and Scientific Research Institute of Complex Power Technology (VNIPIET, Russian Fed.) of St. Petersburg, and AEA Technology (United Kingdom).
Results
The whole project was implemented in three phases:
Phase 1: Review of existing cask design: An assessment of the performance of the flask against the IAEA transport regulations was performed.
Phase 2: Proposal of design improvements of existing cask design: Recommendations for improvements in areas where the flask did not meet the regulations were made.
Phase 3: Proposal of functional specification for new cask design: A survey of existing flasks which could potentially replace the cask was carried out and a functional specification for a new flask was proposed.
The project identified areas of compliance of the design with the IAEA regulations of 1985, and also areas where further improvement was required.