Behaviour of a spent fuel transport-storage cask during an airplane crash

TRANSNUCLEAIRE has got an order for the design and manufacturing of dual purpose, transport and storage, casks for spent fuel.An original item of the qualification of the design of this cask, for the storage aspect, is the necessity to demonstrate the resistance to an air crash.The typical case taken into account for design is the crash of a military fighter (F16) with a total mass of 14600kg and an impact speed of 150ms-1. The demonstration of the ability of the cask to withstand this test is provided by both calculation and test.Two cases were considered. For the first one, the projectile hits the cask at the centre of the anti-crash lid. For the second one, it hits the cask in the plane of the closure system.The first step of the qualification is based on calculations performed with a code designed to study the effects of crashes. The aim of the calculations is, mainly, to determine the missile which has to be shot, and to select the worst orientation for the impact.To provide a full justification of the acceptability of the impact as concerned leaktightness, a test has been performed on a one-third scale model. It has shown that it was not altered by the impact.The paper provides a full description of the method of analysis, results of the numerical analysis, conclusion of the test and how the combination of calculation and test demonstrates the ability of the cask to withstand an airplane crash. ((orig.))