As part of a surveillance program intended to ensure the safe storage of plutonium bearing nuclear materials in the Savannah River Site (SRS) K-Area Materials Storage, samples of these materials are shipped to Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) for analysis. These samples are in the form of solids or powders which will have absorbed moisture. Potentially flammable hydrogen gas is generated due to radiolysis of the moisture. The samples are shipped for processing after chemical analysis. To preclude the possibility of a hydrogen deflagration or detonation inside the shipping containers, the shipping times are limited to ensure that hydrogen concentration in the vapor space of every layer of confinement is below the lower flammability limit of 4 volume percent (vol%) [1]. This study presents an analysis of the rate of hydrogen accumulation due to radiolysis and calculation of allowable shipping times for typical K-Area materials.

This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.