ML20040B929

Recovery & Return to Svc After Transport Accident of Spent-Fuel Shipping Package for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Presented at 740922-27 Proceedings of Intl Symposium,Miami,Fl

ML20040B929
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	09/27/1974
From:	Chandler J OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
To:
Shared Package
ML20040B925	List: ML20040B924 ML20040B926 ML20040B928 ML20040B929
References
FOIA-81-373 NUDOCS 8201260600
Download: ML20040B929 (14)

Text

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THE REC 0VERY AND REIURN in SERVICE AF?!

A TRAN5p0RT ACCIGDiT O'F TiiE SPENT-FTEL~ 9 IpPIN'i P;M GE FiTiTf1E q

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F$ACH BOTT0!T~ATUMIC PO'.D %!ffMN John M. Chandler N

ABSTRACT This paper describes the recovery of the loaded Peach Bottom single-element shipping peckage involved in a highway

'i accident in which the transport vehicle was wrecked.

It describes action taken to retrieve the shipping package from a roadside ditch and to complete the delivery of the un-damaged fuel element to its destination at Oak Ridge National Labora to ry. There the staff made a detailed inspection of the shipping package and its cradie-support structure, cor-rected minor damage to the support ring, and refurbished the r

shipping package for prompt reuse.

INTRODUCTICd

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The safe transport of spent fuel from a nuclear power reactor to the fuel reprocessing plant is an essential feature of the rapidly expanding nuclear-power industry in this country. As this nuclear-power economy l

expands, larger amounts of spent fuel will be transported.

Hence, chances for mishaps to spent-fuel shipping packages will increase, and I

there will be shipping packages to be recovered and returned to service following transport accidents.

The paramount thoughts besetting the mind of an engineer as he designs a spent-fuel shipping package are: will this package pass the i

safety analyses required for U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) licensing actions? Will this package provide satisfactrry protection to the health and safety of people using it? Will this package's structure withstand a real accident? This paper will show that all these questions j

receive a "yes" answer in the example of the single-element shipping

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package for the;feach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

This shipping package

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1028 is also known as the Hallam Cask, because it was originally designed and fabricated by Atomics International for the Hallam Reactor.

Subse-quently, Gulf General Atomic Company leased the cask from the AEC for the purpose of transporting irradiated fuel and other reactor components from the Peach Bottom station to " hot" cells for post-irradiation examination.

This paper describes the recovery of the loaded Peach Bottom single-element shipping package from a serious wreck on a major highway.

It describes actions taken by personnel of Oak Ridgt. l'ational Laboratory (0Rf1L) to retrieve the shipping package from its resting place in a roadside ditch and to complete the delivery of the undamaged fuel element to its destination at ORfit.

There we made a detailed inspection of the shipping package and its cradle-support structure, corrected minor damage to the support ring, and refurbished the ship 7ing package for -

prompt reuse. ORNL had been registered, at our request, as a shipper under the terms of Department of Transportation (DOT) Permit tio. 5938.

DESCRIPTION OF SHIPPIflG PACKAGE ASSEMBLY Figure 1 shows the cask as modified by Gulf to satisfy the require-ments of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 71 (10-CFR-71),

which covers the packaging of radioactive materials for shipping.

The cask is about 20 f t long and 2 f t in diameter and weighs approximately 23 tons. The central section is composed of a 3/4-in.-thick carbon-steel cylinder 24-1/4 in. in outside diameter and 204 in, long, the ends of which are closed by stainless steel flange plates 1 in. thick.

A stainless-steel tube 1/4 in. thick and 5-1/2 in. in inside diameter extends lengthwise through the center of the cask and is welded to the end flanges.

The annular space between the center tube and the outer cylinder is filled with lead.

Carbon-steel end heads 30 in. in diameter are fastened to both ends of the central section by segmented backing flanges and sixteen 1 in. diameter bolts for each head.

The bottom head is 23-1/2 in, thick and contains a plug-valve loading port. The top head is 14 in thick and houses a grappler tool.

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1o30 flanges with "0-ring" seals over the end openings and "0-ring seals between the heads and the flanges of the central secti'on.' The top head has an additional protective end cap.

The cask rests in c t, hipping-cradle assembly while in transit but is detached from the cradle during loading and unloading operations.

The cradle is made of structural steel and supports the cask on.~our 4-in. diameter trunions that are welded to and protrude from the carbon-steel end heads of the cask. Four bolts at each trunion fasten the cask-to the cradle.

In addition, a center girdle and intermediate hold-down support connect the cask rigidly to the cradle during transport. Mats of "Fiberfax" thermal insulation 2 in. thick and encased in stainless-steel wire gauze are wrapped around the central section of the cask and bolted together on the bottom side.

End caps of this same insulation are placed over both end heads and joined to the other insulation to completely encase the cask. A canvas tarpaulin is wrapped around the insulated cask and tied in place by hemp rope.

The fuel element is contained inside a hermetically sealed aluminum cannister provided with a steel liner. A shock pad is screwed into the cannister's leading end and the grappler attached to the shock pad and locked in place to hold both the cannister and shock pad firmly in place during transit.

Because the fuel element is free to move through the several inches of clearance between its end and the cannister lid, the cask is inclined at a 10 angle to prevent the element's shifting during sudden stops and/or as the vehicle moves up and down steep grades.

The cradle assembly supporting the cask is tied down to the trailer by heavy chains locked in place by " boomers" (latching devices to take up slack in the chains).

The total weight of the tractor-trailer and cask assembly discussed here was 78,000 lb. The weight of the loaded cask plus cradle was 49,000 lb. The fuel element, a test element termed NTE-7, contained 135 g of 235 233 0,13g of 0, and 1000 g of Th that had been irradiated 252 days in the Peach Bottom Unit 1 reactor in Core II, position E 10.06.

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1031 LOCATION AND APPARENT CAUSE OF ACCIDENT s

Figure 2showsthesiteoftheaccidentonUis. Highway 25W-about F

25 miles from ORNL and 10 miles north of the city of Oak Ridge near-Clinton, Tennessee.

It wrs apparently caused when the driver of the

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transport vehicle swerved to avoid colliding with an approaching vehicle and lost control as he attempted to return to the highway pavement from the dirt shoulder of the road. You can see the everturned rig in the.

center of the picture. The vehicle had negotiated about 300 ft of a j-150-ft-radius curve while the driver tried to regain control, but it failed to complete the curve and overturned into the ditch.

t INVESTIGATION OF THE ACCIDENT The accident occurred at about 1:30 PM on December 8,1971. Officers of the Anderson County, Tennessee Sheriff's Department arrived on the 1

scene a few minutes later, noted radiation warning signs posted on and about the shipping assembly, halted traffic, and evacuated the area-to a distance greater than 500 yards son each side of the wreckage. This evacuation accounts for the absence of traffic in Figure 2.

This high-way is usually heavily traveled. At 1:55 PM the officers' called the Atomic Energy Commission-0ak Ridge Operations (AEC-0R0) to notify them of the accident.

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i The AEC-0R0 cmergency squad arrived o~n the scene between 2:15 and 2:30 PM and determined that no radioactivity had escaped, no contamination was present, and the highest penetrating radiation detectable was about l

0.5 mrem /hr S y being emitted from the center section of the cask, which would be expected from the position of the element in the cask and its irradiation history. The AEC Health and Nuclear Safety Branch then allowed the law officers to restore traffic consistent with the obstruction caused by operations to remove,'the overturned tractor-trailer rig from the highway shoulder.

4 From bills of lading and the packing list found in the wreckage, the l

origin of the shipment was found to be the Peach Bottom Atomic Power l

Station at Delta, Pennsylvania.

Personnel at that station were contacted h

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1033 to gain trore information on the nature of the shipment.

From this tele-phonc call and from the consignee designation on the invdice it was determined that the shipment was to be received at ORNL and that upon its arrival I was to be contacted for instructions on placing the package into position for unloading the cask and its contents.

I was 'infonaed of the accident at about 2:45 pH by J. A. Lenhard, Director of the AEC-ORO Safety and Environmental Control Division.

I arrived at the accident scene 30 minutes later, which was less than two hours after the accident occurred.

Figure 3 is a photograph showing the position of the cask and shipping-cradle asserrbly in the ditch and that of the tractor-trailer unit, which traveled 52 ft beyond the cask assembly before coming to rest.

A close examination of the trees on the right of the cask in this view and the presence of bark from these trees embedded in the left rear of the trailer and its adjacent wheel indicate that the trailer passed over the cask, struck the tree, and then traveled back toward the road. Note also the positions of the 4-x 4-in. wood beam.s that had been used between the cask-support cradle and the trailer bed to distribute the load uniformly on the trailer. Also seen in the background is a lefting device that was stored in the framework of the cask-support cradle during transit. The absence of any parts from the shipping assembly upstream of the wreckage resting place led to the conclusion that the tiedown chains broke under I

the forces resulting when the shipping assembly came to an abrupt halt while bearing the weight of the tractor-trailer, which was otherwise free i

to continue in motion until striking the ground.

Figure 4 is a photograph taken the next day after the accident and l

l after the shipping assembly had been removed from the ditch. The road l

was dry at the time of the accident, but it rained during t'le following night. This picture shows the curved road and the point of impact of the package when the trailer with tractor still attached overturned.

The whole assembly traveled 30 yards down the ditch toward the camera I

before coming to rest.

Figure 5 shows the shipping assembly in the position in which we found it when we arrived and began our inspection before attempting l

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1036 retrieval operations. The leading end was embedded 3 ft in loose earth that it had plowed up and shoved ahead of the pa_c,kageN. i)rainage water flowing down the ditch wfs damed by a mound of e'arth and covered about half of the package.

fio contamination was found outside the package.

A sample of the water was analyzed, and it also showed that no radio-activity had been released.

Figure 6 shows our continuing examination of the package as workmen performed the retrieval operation.

RETRIEVAL 0F THE SHIPPIf1G PACKAGE It was determined from our later extensive examination of the shipping package and its cradle-support mechanism that we had seen all the damage to the package during the retrieval operation.

The thermal insulation and its tarpaulin had been dragged away from 80 percent of the surface.

The center support ring was also torn away and was found entangled in the insulation on the underside of the package.

While awaiting the arrival of the 50-ton crane to lif t the assembly, I studied structural drawings of the shipping arrangement to refresh my knowledge of the important structural supports and components of the package and cradle-support assembly.

Before any effort was made to lift the package from its upside-down position in the ditch, structural welds on the package, bolts that fasten the package together, and the trunion bolts were inspected visually.

This required digging some earth away to expose buried parts. As the package was lifted, close attention was focused on it and its support cradle to determine if all parts moved together; if they did not, corrective action would be instituted immediately.

A 50-ton mobile crane was used to lift the shipping assembly by the cradle, as shown in Figure 6, until cables could be wrapped around the package for lifting it from the ditch and placing it in the road, where additional rigging was done tof set the assembly upright as seen in Figure 7.

By instructing the rigging crew where lifting cables could be attached safely before attempting any lift, no unexpected moves were made and the inspection into the integrity of the package could continue as the lifting

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1038 forces were applied. The shipping package was thus retrieved from the ditch safely and without incident.

The assembly was loaded onto a trailer and transported to ORfil. A police escort was used, and special permission was granted to move the load after dark, because the permit under which the package was being transported allowed only daylight travel.

Delivery of the fuel element to ORfil was delayed only 7 hours8.101852e-5 days <br />0.00194 hours <br />1.157407e-5 weeks <br />2.6635e-6 months <br /> by the accident and was completed at 10:45 PM on December 8,1971.

UtiL0ADIfiG OF ELEf'.EllT RTE-7 AliD FURTiiER ASSESSMEllT OF DA!'G At ORf1L on December 9,1971, the remaining portior s of the thermal insulation were removed and the shipping package and cradh. sere washed to allow further visual inspection of the shipping assembly in search of damage to the cask. ?!one was found. Uhile the fuel element was still inside the cask, a "garimagraph," of a sort, was made of the package to detect any breach of the biological shield and/or any radiation " shine" from any portion of the package surface including both heads and the associated flange openings.

flo abrupt change in 8-y radiation was detected as the very careful survey was conducted by John V. Ililyear of the ORfil l{ealth Physics Division.

While awaiting permission from Gulf General Atomic Company to pro-l ceed with the unloading of the element, an incident report was completed as required by AEC and ORf1L policy. Approval to proceed with the un-loading was given by Gulf, and the package was lowered to the horizontal position for the unloading operation.

lio misalignment or damage was noted at this time. The inner package, the shock absorber, and element RTE-7 were found to be undamaged by the accident.

flationwide interest by various AEC installations, as wall as com-pliance requirements of Federal Regulation 10-CFR-71, " Packaging of Radio-active Materials for Transport," guided the plans and dictated the rules by which they t;ere mada and carried out.

First, we had to determine the I

extent of damage to the package and cradle-support assembly by the accident; I

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4 1039 second, needed repairs to restore tFe assen.bly to its operating con-4 dition had to be itemized; and, third, we had to.,suggest'to the holder

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of AEC License SNM-69 (71-13), Gulf 011 Coro., P. 0. Box 608, San Diego, California 92112, items that might lead to safer future shipments using this assembly.

Time alloted does not permit a description of the events and actions 2

taken and work perfonned at ORNL to examine thoroughly and return the Peach Bottom Spent-Fuel Shipping Package to service.

However, after a thorough dimensional analysis of the package and examination of all the package welds at ORNL, it was concluded that there was no structural damage to the Peach Bottom Single-Element Shipping Package, DOT SP-5938.

It therefore continues (as of January 1972) to meet the requirements of federal regulations 10-CFR-71, if the need for a mantle of thermal insu-lation is excluded. Recommended maintenance and improvements to the shipping package assembly were made by Gulf General Atomic before the unit was returned to service.

Figure 8 shows the shipping package assembly after it was refurbished and prepared for transport from ORNL.

REFERENCES 6

1.

Incident Report No. ORNL-7146, Wreck of Vehicle Carrying the "Hallam" Cask with HTGR Experimental Fuel Element RIE-7.

2.

John M. Chandler, The Peach Bottom _ Spent-Fuel Element Shipping Cask Accident December 8,1971, ORNL-TM-3844 (July 1972).

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