Safety Analysis of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Transportation Container

Ignalina NPP comprises two Units with RBMK-1500 reactors. After the Unit 1 of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was shut down in 2004, approximately 1000 fuel assemblies from Unit were available for further reuse in Unit 2. The fuel-transportation container, vehicle, protection shaft and other necessary equipment were designed in order to implement the process for on-site transportation of Unit 1 fuel for reuse in the Unit 2. The Safety Analysis Report (SAR) was developed to demonstrate that the proposed set of equipment performs all functions and assures the required level of safety for both normal operation and accident conditions. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the content and main results of SAR, focusing attention on the container used to transport spent fuel assemblies from Unit 1 on Unit 2. In the SAR, the structural integrity, thermal, radiological and nuclear safety calculations are performed to assess the acceptance of the proposed set of equipment. The safety analysis demonstrated that the proposed nuclear fuel transportation container and other equipment are in compliance with functional, design and regulatory requirements and assure the required safety level.