Nuclear Engineering and Technology (Jun 2021)
Neutron dose rate analysis of the new CONSTOR® storage cask for the RBMK-1500 spent nuclear fuel
Abstract
This paper presents the neutron dose rate analysis of the new CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 storage cask intended for the spent nuclear fuel storage at Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania. These casks are designed to be stored in a new “closed” type interim storage facility, with the capacity to store up to 202 CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks. In 2016 y, the “hot trials” of this new facility were conducted and 10 CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks loaded with the spent nuclear fuel were transported to the dedicated storage places in this facility. During “hot trials”, the dose rate measurements of the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 casks were performed as the dose rate is one of the critical parameter to control and it must be below design (and safety) criteria. Therefore, having the actual data of the spent nuclear fuel characteristics, the neutron dose rate modeling of the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask loaded with this particular fuel was also performed. Neutron dose rate modeling was performed using MCNP 5 computer code with very detailed geometrical representation of the cask and the fuel. The obtained modeling results were compared with the measurement results and it was revealed, that modeling results are generally in good agreement with the measurements.
