LEAK TEST DEMONSTRATION OF A REPRESENTATIVE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TRANSPORTATION CANISTER

Battelle Pacific Northwest Division, operator of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. DOE (referred to hereafter as “Battelle”), is seeking a Contractor to provide services to perform a leak test demonstration of a representative Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) transportation package.

This SOW includes the requirements and details necessary for the procurement of services that will consist of system design, test planning, test execution, and test reporting that will be used in further CSF development activities by U.S. DOE. This test activity supports operations planning for a federal Consolidated Storage Facility (CSF) under Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulation.

While helium leakage rate testing is cited in licensing of commercial CSFs to verify the containment boundary of SNF canisters in transport packages, there is no demonstrated history of use. A successful demonstration on a representative system would support the use of helium leakage rate testing on transport packages that experience off-normal transportation conditions. If the helium leakage rate test proves unreliable or impractical, DOE gains time to identify alternative methods to verify canister integrity.

During the typical SNF loading sequence, the SNF is loaded into the canister, and the canister lid is installed and welded to the canister body. The canister is then drained of water, evacuated of air, and backfilled with helium, which is used to aid in leak testing of the canister. After leak testing the canister, it is loaded into the overpack, the overpack lid is installed, and the bolts are torqued. The overpack is drained of water, evacuated of air, and backfilled with helium.

The backfill of helium in the overpack is expected to offer a technical challenge for performing a helium leakage rate testing on the SNF canister. The backfill helium needs to be removed during the test or else the backfill helium may produce a false positive result for the test. If your company is interested in receiving the Request for Interest documents, please contact Contract Specialist, Garrett Prather, by email at garrett.prather@pnnl.gov.