Research reactor spent fuel storage in transport casks

Abstract

An alternative for the interim storage of the spent fuel from the research reactors in the countries participating in the IAEA Project RLA/4/018 is the use of dual-purpose storage/transport casks. To set the basis for a sound technical and economic assessment and — should this become the chosen storage method — to initialize the cask conceptual design, a bibliographic survey was carried out on the different existing cask concepts. This paper presents the results of this review, details the infrastructure and manpower available for the design and qualification of this cask, and discusses the main design guidelines to be met by Type B transport packages carrying fissile materials.