The purpose of this study is to develop the analysis procedures for the evaluation of the structural integrity of the spent fuel in normal condition of transport at sea. Spent nuclear fuel must be transported from the wet storage facility in the nuclear power plant to the intermediate storage facility, and the structural integrity must be maintained in vibration and shock loads during the transportation. In general, the transport of spent nuclear fuel is performed in three kinds of modes: road, rail, and sea. During transport, the spent nuclear fuel is subjected to repeated vibration and shock loads by road surfaces, railroad tracks, and waves of the sea. It should be evaluated whether the structural integrity of the spent fuel is maintained under these load conditions. All nuclear power plants in Korea are located in coastal sites, and the interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel is highly likely to be decided as a coastal site as well. Therefore, the main mode of the spent nuclear fuel transport is expected to be maritime transport by ships. In this study, the analysis procedure was developed to evaluate the safety of spent fuel at maritime transport by ships, and the procedure for evaluating the integrity of spent fuel under normal conditions of maritime transport were proposed. CFD analysis using SeaFEM was performed for the vibration analysis of the ship by waves, and the structural vibration analysis of the transport system was simulated using the developed in-house codes. The fatigue durability of the cladding was also evaluated using the developed fatigue analysis program and the fatigue analysis used the strain data obtained from the structural analysis. It was concluded that the value of the fatigue damage on the spent fuel cladding during normal conditions of maritime transportation is close to “0” and the structural integrity of the spent fuel is maintained in the same condition.

사용후핵연료 건식저장의 실증연구는 건식저장 시스템의 안전성과 사용후핵연료의 저장 건전성 평가를 위한 확증적인 데 이터 생산을 위하여 수행되어 왔다. 사용후핵연료의 건식저장을 가장 먼저 시작하였고 핵연료 건전성에 대한 법적 요건이 엄격하게 제시되어 있는 미국에서는 건식저장의 개시, 인허가 갱신을 위하여 주목할만한 몇몇 실증연구 프로그램을 운영한 바 있다. 건식저장 초기 단계에 건식저장 시스템 성능 검증 목적으로 실증연구가 수행된 바 있으며 저연소도 사용후핵연료 의 건식저장 인허가 갱신을 위하여 건식저장 특성평가 프로젝트를 진행한 바 있다. 현재는 고연소도 사용후핵연료 인허가 연장을 위한 실증연구가 진행 중이며 이 연구는 향후 최소 10년이상 진행될 것으로 예상된다. 건식저장을 본격적으로 시작 하지 않은 우리나라에서는 미국에서 진행해온 이러한 건식저장 실증연구가 훌륭한 타산지석이 될 것으로 생각되며 이에 본 논문에서는 미국의 건식저장 실증연구 프로그램의 과거와 현재를 분석하고 우리나라에서 진행할 필요가 있다고 사료되는 실증연구에 대한 제언을 담았다.