According to the ‘Basic Plan for High-Level Radioactive Waste Management (draft)’, the total amount of CANDU spent nuclear fuel is expected to be approximately 660,000 bundles. To safely and efficiently transport this amount to interim storage facilities, it is essential to develop a large-capacity transport cask. Therefore, we have been developing a large-capacity PHWR spent nuclear fuel transport cask, called the KTC-360 transport cask. According to the transport-cask related regulations, the KTC-360 transport cask was classified as a Type B package, and such packages must be able to withstand a temperature of 800°C for a period of 30 min. It is desirable to conduct a test using a fullscale model of a shipping package when performing tests to evaluate its integrity. However, it is costly to perform a test using a full-scale model. Therefore, to evaluate the thermal integrity of the KTC-360 transport cask, the fire test was conducted using a slice model. For comparison purposes, the fire test was also carried out using a 1/4 scale model. In the fire test using a slice model and in the fire test using a 1/4 scale model, the maximum temperature of the cask body was lower than the permitted maximum temperature limit. Therefore, the thermal integrity of the KTC-360 transport cask could be considered to be maintained. The temperature results from the fire test using a slice model were higher than those of the fire test using a 1/4 scale model. Therefore, the effect of flame on a transport cask without combustible materials, such as the KTC-360 transport cask, seems to be affected by the reduction in the time rather than the size reduction.

• Kyoung-sik Bang(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)) Corresponding author
• Yun-Young Yang(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))
• Woo-Seok Choi(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI))