Cask Selection for Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipment from Research Reactor

An approach to a cask selection for SNF shipment from research reactor is considered in the presented paper. A general review of the activities in the volume and scope of the tasks that need to be fulfilled for this purpose was made and they mark the main directions for necessary researches and close examinations. The  resented approach is applied to a cask selection for SNF shipment from the nuclear research reactor IRT-2000, Sofia, Bulgaria. The number of spent fuel assemblies (SFA) for shipment was 73 +1 (a penal containing 6 separated fuel elements), of which 16 HEU SFA of type C - 36, and 57 LEU SFA of type EK – 10. One of the HEU SFA was containing both types of fuel and the penal was containing 6 separated fuel elements of EK – 10type. Five possible route options up to the Russian border were nvestigated. The options include mixed possibilities with using of railway, river, sea and air transport. All key transfer points were discussed and the criterions for route selection were defined. Two of the routes that meet the criterions were selected – route No 1 as main option and route No 2 as alternate option. Three possible options for SNF shipment casks were discussed. The criterions for cask selection for SNF shipment were defined and applied to the cask selection. The final cask selection led to the well-founded route changes.