Full scale torch tests on spent fuel cask shipping system

Full scale experimental measurements, including the instrumentation designed to obtain the data, are presented on the thermal effects of torch fires on a large, spent nuclear fuel shipping cask. The measured temperature data in the various materials of the multilayered cask are unique, since no torch tests have been previously performed on a cask: These data were obtained during a series of four torch tests which simulate a situation in which the relief valve of a liquefied gas tank railcar has been opened and and the contents are vented and ignited so that the resultant torch impinges on the cask. The modified cask instrumentation geometry and materials are discussed. Temperature data throughout the cask are compared for two cask on the corrugated outer jacket surface, within the neutron shield, on the carbon steel shell, on the inner stainless steel shell and near the cask head closure seals are presented for the four torch tests