A Concrete Cask Design for Storage, Transportation and Disposal

Abstract

A program to assess whether concrete casks could store, transport and dispose irradiated CANDU fuel was undertaken at Ontario Hydro. In the process of developing a viable concrete cask, various stringent design criteria were met. The most stringent requirements were viewed to the IAEA regulatory 9 m drop and fire tests for Type B packages. Two half-scale cask models were built and tested. The test results confirmed that development of these concrete casks is feasible. During the tests, the cask models maintained their overall structural integrity and full containment with effective radiation shielding of an irradiated fuel payload would have been retained.