ALARA studies on spent fuel and waste casks

Abstract

In this report, some implications of applying the ALARA concept to cask designs for transporting spent fuel, high-level commercial and defense waste, and remote-handled transuranic waste are investigated. The XSDRNPM, one-dimensional radiation transport code, was used to obtain potential shield designs that would yield total dose rates at 1.8 ra from the cask surface of 10, 5, and 2 mrem/h. Gajnno shields of depleted uranium, lead, and steel were studied, the capacity of the casks was assumed to be 1, 4, or 7 elements or canisters, and the wastes were 1, 3, 5, and 10 yrs old. Depending on the dose rate, the cask empty weights and lifetime transportation costs were estimated.