Nureg/Cr-7206 Pnnl-23701
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NUREG/CR-7206 PNNL-23701 Spent Fuel Transportation Package Response to the MacArthur Maze Fire Scenario Final Report Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards NUREG/CR-7206 PNNL-23701 Spent Fuel Transportation Package Response to the MacArthur Maze Fire Scenario Final Report Manuscript Completed: July 2016 Date Published: October 2016 Prepared by: H. E. Adkins, Jr.1, J. M. Cuta1, N. A. Klymyshyn1, S. R. Suffield1, C. S. Bajwa2, K. B. McGrattan3, C. E. Beyer1, and A. Sotomayor-Rivera4 1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P. O. Box 999 Richland, WA 99352 2International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria 3National Institute of Standards and Technology Engineering Laboratory 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8600 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8600 4U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission J. Piotter, NRC Project Manager NRC Job Code J5710 Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards ABSTRACT The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has established requirements for packaging and transportation of spent nuclear fuel assemblies under normal conditions of transport and for hypothetical accident conditions. Real-world accidents of greater severity are possible, but are of much lower probability, and the probability of such an accident involving a spent nuclear fuel (SNF) package is even lower. However, because of the potential consequences, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has undertaken the examination of specific accidents to determine the potential consequences to an SNF package. The MacArthur Maze accident of April 2007, which did not involve SNF, was selected for evaluation because of the severity of the fire and the unusual structural consequences, in which the heat from the fire caused the overhead roadway segments to collapse onto the roadway where the fire was burning. The General Atomics GA-4 legal weight truck transportation package was selected for this investigation. Based on fire modeling with the Fire Dynamics Simulator code, and physical examination of material samples obtained onsite, a bounding fire scenario was defined for this accident. The complex and dynamic fire conditions are represented as a fully engulfing pool fire at 2012°F (1100°C) prior to the overhead roadway collapse, and as a smaller and less severe fully engulfing pool fire at 1652°F (900°C) afterward. Thermal models of the GA-4 package were constructed for the ANSYS and COBRA-SFS codes, to determine the response of the package to the fire scenario, including the long post-fire cooldown transient. Additional detailed structural and thermal-structural models were developed using ANSYS and LS-DYNA for the roadway and package, which showed that the falling overhead segments could impose only relatively innocuous loads on the stainless steel body and DU gamma shield, compared to the hypothetical accident conditions structural loading that the package is designed to withstand. Thermal evaluations of the package response to this fire scenario predict that the peak cladding temperature would exceed the short-term limit of 1058°F (570°C) long before the end of the fire. Maximum cladding temperatures on all rods in the package are predicted to exceed this temperature limit in the course of the transient, and remain above this limit for several hours. The maximum peak cladding temperature in the transient is predicted to be in the range of 1350-1400°F (732-760°C), and occurs approximately 3 hours after the end of the postulated fire accident. Temperatures in the regions of the package seals exceed the seal material limits for most of the fire duration. The FRAPTRAN-1.4 code was used to estimate a fuel rod burst rupture temperature of 1097°F (592°C). Together with the temperature histories of the fuel, this suggests that there is the potential for all rods in the package to rupture in this fire scenario. The package seals are assumed to fail. However, a detailed thermo-structural model showed that the lid closure bolts maintain a positive clamping force throughout the transient, thus limiting the release. Using conservative and bounding modeling assumptions, the total possible release was estimated at approximately one-fourth of the mixture A2. Since the regulatory limit is specified as an A2 quantity per week for accident conditions, the estimated release is below the prescribed limit for safety. Therefore this very conservative estimate indicates that the potential release from this package, were it to be involved in a fire accident as severe as the MacArthur Maze fire scenario, would not pose a risk to public health and safety. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................ vii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................. xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. xxv ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...................................................................... xxvii 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1-1 2.0 THE MACARTHUR MAZE FIRE ......................................................................... 2-1 2.1 Description of the MacArthur Maze Fire ................................................................. 2-1 2.2 Maximum Material Temperatures in the MacArthur Maze Fire ............................... 2-7 3.0 NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE MACARTHUR MAZE FIRE ......................... 3-1 3.1 FDS Model Geometry ............................................................................................ 3-1 3.2 FDS Model Fire ..................................................................................................... 3-3 3.3 FDS Fire Model Output .......................................................................................... 3-5 3.4 Fire Model Results for Pre-Collapse Configuration ................................................ 3-9 3.5 Bounding Assumptions for Post-Collapse Fire ..................................................... 3-10 4.0 THE MACARTHUR MAZE FIRE SCENARIO...................................................... 4-1 4.1 Thermal Conditions in MacArthur Maze Fire Scenario ........................................... 4-1 4.2 Structural Loads in MacArthur Maze Fire Scenario ................................................ 4-2 5.0 ANALYTICAL MODELS FOR THE MACARTHUR MAZE FIRE SCENARIO ..... 5-1 5.1 GA-4 Legal Weight Truck Spent Fuel Shipping Package ....................................... 5-1 5.2 ANSYS Model of GA-4 Package ............................................................................ 5-3 5.2.1 GA-4 Package Representation .................................................................. 5-3 5.2.2 GA-4 Package beneath Collapsed Roadway ............................................ 5-9 5.2.3 Material Properties for GA-4 Package in ANSYS Model .......................... 5-15 5.3 COBRA-SFS Model of GA-4 Package ................................................................. 5-17 5.3.1 COBRA-SFS Model of GA-4 Package in Fully Engulfing Pool Fire .......... 5-18 5.3.2 COBRA-SFS Model of GA-4 Package beneath Collapsed Upper Roadway ................................................................................................. 5-19 5.4 Structural Models for the MacArthur Maze Fire Scenario ..................................... 5-20 5.4.1 Structural Models for Roadway Drop Scenarios ...................................... 5-20 5.4.2 Preliminary Models for GA-4 Bolt Thermal Expansion Calculations ......... 5-27 5.4.3 Detailed Models for GA-4 Closure Lid Bolt Evaluations ........................... 5-31 6.0 ANALYSIS METHOD .......................................................................................... 6-1 6.1 NCT and HAC Fire for GA-4 Package .................................................................... 6-1 6.2 Thermal Modeling Assumptions ............................................................................. 6-2 6.3 Thermal Boundary Conditions for GA-4 Package Models ...................................... 6-4 6.3.1 Thermal Boundary Conditions ................................................................... 6-5 6.4 Structural Impact Model Assumptions and Analysis Method .................................. 6-8 6.4.1 Overpass Temperature Evaluation .......................................................... 6-10 v 7.0 ANALYSIS RESULTS ......................................................................................... 7-1 7.1 GA-4 Package: Thermal Results for Fire Transient ................................................ 7-1 7.1.1 Pre-collapse Fire (2012°F [1100°C]) ......................................................... 7-2 7.1.2 Post-collapse Fire (1352°F [900°C]) .......................................................... 7-5 7.2 GA-4 Package: Thermal Results for Post-Fire Cooldown Transient ....................... 7-9 7.3 GA-4 Package: Structural Evaluation ................................................................... 7-15 7.3.1 Structural Case #1: Package Perpendicular to Upper Roadway Girders ...................................................................................................