Criticality Risk Assessment during Transportation and Storage of MTR Spent Fuel Elements

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to evaluate the criticality condition during transporting the spent fuel elements from the temporary storage to the permanent storage by using a Latin American cask. The cask was developed to transport the material testing reactor (MTR) fuel element type. MCNP5 code was used to calculate the criticality, expressed in terms of the neutron multiplication factor (k-effective), for normal and accidental situations using 21 fresh fuel elements. It was found that the K-effective were 0.06292 and 0.87499 during normal transport and flooding accidental condition respectively. The result shows that the cask is very adequate to transport the spent fuel from the criticality safety point of view. Burn-up credit approach was used to increase the cask capacity to be loaded with 29 of spent fuel elements that meet the criteria for criticality safety.

Keywords: Material Testing Reactor (MTR), MCNP5 code, K-effective, Burn-up credit approach

Cite this Article: Amr Mohamed Abdelhady. Criticality Risk Assessment during Transportation and Storage of MTR Spent Fuel Elements. Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology. 2019; 9(1): 1–6p.