Performance of Spent Fuel Transportation Casks in Severe Tunnel Fires

Abstract

As part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) overall review of the performance of transportation casks under severe accident conditions, the NRC has undertaken a number of initiatives, including the Package Performance Study (PPS), described in USNRC Package Performance Study Test Protocols, NUREG-1768, which will test full size transportation casks in a severe accident, as well as an examination of the Baltimore tunnel fire of 2001. The final PPS test plan is currently under development by the NRC's Office of Research. The NRC, working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), performed analyses to predict the response of three different spent fuel transportation cask designs when exposed to a fire similar to that which occurred in the Howard Street railroad tunnel in downtown Baltimore, Maryland on July 18, 2001. NRC Staff evaluated the potential for a release of radioactive material from each of the three transportation casks analyzed for the Baltimore tunnel fire scenario. The results of these analyses are described in detail in Spent Fuel Transportation Package Response to the Baltimore Tunnel Fire Scenario, NUREG/CR-6886, published in draft for comment in November 2005.