The aim of this study is to ensure the structural integrity of a canister to be used in a dry storage system currently being developed in Korea. Based on burnup and cooling periods, the canister is designed with 24 bundles of spent nuclear fuel stored inside it. It is a cylindrical structure with a height of 4,890 mm, an internal diameter of 1,708 mm, and an inner length of 4,590 mm. The canister lid is fixed with multiple seals and welds to maintain its confinement boundary to prevent the leakage of radioactive waste. The canister is evaluated under different loads that may be generated under normal, off-normal, and accident conditions, and combinations of these loads are compared against the allowable stress thresholds to assess its structural integrity in accordance with NUREG-2215. The evaluation result shows that the stress intensities applied on the canister under normal, off-normal, and accident conditions are below the allowable stress thresholds, thus confirming its structural integrity.

A transfer cask serves as the container for transporting and handling canisters loaded with spent nuclear fuels from light water reactors. This study focuses on a cylindrical transfer cask, standing at 5,300 mm with an external diameter of 2,170 mm, featuring impact limiters on the top and bottom sides. The base of the cask body has an openable/closable lid for loading canisters with storage modules. The transfer cask houses a canister containing spent nuclear fuels from lightweight reactors, serving as the confinement boundary while the cask itself lacks the confinement structure. The objective of this study was to conduct a structural analysis evaluation of the transfer cask, currently under development in Korea, ensuring its safety. This evaluation encompasses analyses of loads under normal, off-normal, and accident conditions, adhering to NUREG-2215. Structural integrity was assessed by comparing combined results for each load against stress limits. The results confirm that the transfer cask meets stress limits across normal, off-normal, and accident conditions, establishing its structural safety.

The operation time of a disposal repository is generally more than one hundred years except for the institutional control phase. The structural integrity of a repository can be regarded as one of the most important research issues from the perspective of a long-term performance assessment, which is closely related to the public acceptance with regard to the nuclear safety. The objective of this study is to suggest the methodology for quantitative evaluation of structural integrity in a nuclear waste repository based on the adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), fractal theory, and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring. Here, adaptive AI means that the advanced AI model trained additionally based on the expert’s decision, engineering & field scale tests, numerical studies etc. in addition to the lab. test. In the process of a methodology development, AE source location, wave attenuation, the maximum AE energy and crack type classification were subsequently studied from the various lab. tests and Mazars damage model. The developed methodology for structural integrity was also applied to engineering scale concrete block (1.3 m × 1.3 m × 1.3 m) by artificial crack generation using a plate jacking method (up to 30 MPa) in KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel). The concrete recipe used in engineering scale test was same as that of Gyeongju low & intermediate level waste repository. From this study, the reliability for AE crack source location, crack type classification, and damage assessment increased and all the processes for the technology development were verified from the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) in 2022.

This study researched problems of safety inspection method and current legislative system for the structure safety evaluation of Rahmen structure affected by remodeling. The elements of weight increase were examined in terms of differences of load moment, shear force, compressive stress and amount of steel before and after remodeling by structure analysis. The thorough examination for impacts of weight increase is indispensable to change of use or extension.