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Tso, Chi-Fung

Publications and source records attributed to Tso, Chi-Fung.

Drop Testing of a Container for the Storage, Transport and Disposal of Intermediate Level Waste - 18078

Impact tests were performed, as part of a corresponding container's substantiation, during design development of a shielded container proposed for use at Sellafield for waste retrieval from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond (FGMSP) in the UK. The mechanical test program comprised a 9 m free drop test onto an unyielding target in a container long lid edge down orientation at ambient conditions. Further, a 0,5 m free drop test onto a punch target was performed. Here, the container was orientated with the lid downwards in a way that the punch, a mild steel bar, impacts a filter lid. The test specimen was instrumented with strain gauges and accelerometers for the drop tests. Transient strains at selected points of the inner and outer container walls, at the shielding lid, as well as at the lid bolts were measured during the container's impact. Furthermore, decelerations of the container body, container lid, and the skip were measured. The complex geometrical changes of the container due to impact were determined by optical 3d- deformation measures using the projected fringes method in combination with multi-image photogrammetry. This paper summarizes the performance of the drop tests and various drop test results in context with the design development as well as aspects regarding the associated Finite Element (FE) analyses and post-test evaluation. (authors)

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Development of a multi-purpose container system for the storage, transport and disposal of PWR spent fuel in the UK - 15466

Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) is a wholly owned subsidiary of UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and is responsible for implementing UK Government policy on geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste. An aspect of the generic work programme that underpins the current generic disposal concepts includes the development of the associated disposal containers. To date RWM has focused on the development of a range of disposal container designs that fulfil the requirements for transport and disposal in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) for legacy high heat generating wastes, one of which includes legacy Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SF). In line with a number of European countries exploring deep geological disposal, the conceptual disposal container solution developed for this waste type has a capacity of 4 PWR fuel assemblies. Since 2013, the feasibility of developing an alternative higher capacity disposal container design based around the Multi-Purpose Container (MPC) concept has been explored. In general terms, MPCs are containers that are designed to meet requirements for safe containment of radioactive waste during storage, transport and disposal. The fundamental design philosophy of the MPC is that once the waste is packaged in an MPC, it would not need to be handled again. That is, after a period of initial cooling in a fuel pond, the SF could be packaged for long term dry storage and would not require direct handling for its eventual transport to, and disposal in, a GDF. The novel feature of the MPC system design considered is the inclusion of an additional overpack specifically for the final deep geological disposal phase. The conceptual MPC and its associated storage, transfer, transport and thick walled carbon steel disposal overpack have been developed to a conceptual level of design detail to demonstrate concept feasibility, with the final design solution confirming a MPC system with a capacity of 12 PWR SF assembles. This represents the highest capacity PWR MPC system that complies with the mass and rail gauge limits of the UK W6a rail gauge. Such a capacity realises a contents loading three times that of the standard PWR disposal container and presented technical challenges from both a structural performance and thermal perspective; necessitating the need for the inclusion of features to enhance heat transfer from the central fuel assemblies within the MPC and novel lid features on the transport container overpack to maintain structural integrity and containment during the hypothetical accident conditions of transport tests. In developing the MPC system conceptual design it is recognised that, depending upon the safety functions of the MPC disposal overpack, the choice of carbon steel material may not be suitable for all geological environments. Consequently, the MPC system design and its materials of construction will require further evaluation once detailed knowledge of the disposal concept to be implemented, its safety functions and geological environment are known. (authors)

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Development of disposal container designs for disposal of high level waste and legacy spent fuel in the UK - 15471

Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM), a fully owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), is responsible for the implementation of geological disposal in the UK. Three illustrative concepts of a geological disposal facility (GDF), corresponding to three generic geological environments - higher strength rock, lower strength sedimentary rock and evaporite rock - have been developed to demonstrate the viability of geological disposal of intermediate level waste, high level waste and spent fuel. It is envisaged that HLW which has been encapsulated in Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) canisters, advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) SF which has been stripped of their spacers and packaged into slotted fuel cans, and PWR SF will be packaged into disposal containers for disposal. A set of schematic designs of these disposal containers was developed in the late 2000's. The design concept for the higher strength rock environment was based on the joint Posiva/SKB disposal container design, and the design concept for the lower strength sedimentary rock and evaporate rock illustrative environments was based on the disposal container concept from Switzerland's National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra). The size, mass and dimensions of the disposal containers in the scheme designs vary significantly. The construction method and the lid closing method also vary between the disposal containers for the different waste contents. A design study has indicated that optimization of the number of HLW WVP canisters and the number of AGR slotted fuel cans in the disposal containers, standardizing construction method and closure arrangement across the containers for each geology type, providing handling features at both ends of the disposal container, and balancing of shielding around the containers, could bring significant advantage to the overall GDF programme by reducing the number of disposal containers, reducing GDF footprint, and reducing the extent of excavations, spoil generated and materials that are required for construction. A project to develop the scheme designs to conceptual level was carried in 2011 to 2013. In this project, the above changes were taken into account, technical underpinning of the designs was carried out and manufacturing method was considered. Two disposal container variants for different host rock environments have been developed: - Variant 1, for compatibility with the higher strength rock illustrative disposal system design. This is constructed from copper, with a cast iron insert and is based on the joint Posiva/SKB disposal container design. - Variant 2, for compatibility with the lower strength sedimentary rock and evaporite rock illustrative disposal system designs. This is a steel container based on the NAGRA disposal container design. Each variant has three internal configurations to accommodate 3 HLW vitrified canisters, 16 consolidated cans of AGR SF and 4 PWR spent fuel assemblies. These designs have been shown to bring significant benefit to the GDF designs, bringing a significant reduction to the operating programme and GDF programme cost, including reducing the number of disposal containers by 33% for HLW, 50% for AGR SF and reducing the size of the GDF footprint by 25%. (authors)

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