Construction and inservice inspection rules for nuclear spent fuel and high-level waste transport packagings

Rules for the construction and in-service requirements of containment systems of nuclear spent fuel and high-level waste transport packagings are being developed by the NUPACK Committee. The rules for construction will be incorporated into the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code as a new Subsection of Section III, Division I. Corresponding rules for inservice requirements will probably be established as a new Division in Section XI. The rules are being drafted by Task Groups on General Requirements; Design; Materials; Fabrication, Examination and Testing, and Inservice Requirements. The Task Groups are utilizing the format and to a great extent the existing text for other Section III components, as appropriate, in establishing the NUPACK rules. Outstanding issues which have not yet been resolved include some differences between NRC Regulatory Guide 7.6 and the ASME Code, protection criteria against brittle failure of ferritic materials and requirements for hydrostatic and leakage rate testing. The schedule for completing the first drafts of rules for construction and inservice requirements is June and November 1983, respectively. December 1984 is a target date for publication