Advanced safety features of the DN30 package for the transport of UF₆

The DN30 package was developed by DAHER NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES GmbH (DAHER NT) for the transport of enriched commercial grade and reprocessed UF₆ up to an enrichment of 5%. It consists of a standard 30B cylinder and the DN30 Protective Structural Packaging (PSP) and shall be licensed as type AF, IF and B(U)F package. The basic design was already presented at PATRAM 2010 and 2013. The design of the DN30 PSP has new and advanced safety features to comply not only with the current edition of the IAEA regulations but also the next edition to be published soon. The presentation will concentrate on these advanced safety features: 1) The valve protecting device. The valve protecting device prevents contact of the valve with any part of the DN30 PSP or the 30B cylinder other than its original point of attachment during normal (NCT) and accident conditions of transport (ACT). 2) The plug protecting device. The plug protecting device prevents contact of the plug with any part of the DN30 PSP or the 30B cylinder other than its original point of contact during NCT and ACT. This plug protecting device can be used with the standard hex head plug; installation of a socket head plug is not required. 3) The rotation preventing devices. The rotation prevention devices prevent a rotation of the cylinder around its longitudinal axis relative to the DN30 PSP, especially when dropped onto the side of the package. Without this devices the UF₆ content concentrated in the lower half of the 30B cylinder would cause a rotation of the cylinder and render safety features depending on relative position of PSP and cylinder inoperable. 4) The closure system. The two halves of the DN30 PSP are connected by a closure system consisting of 6 robust mortise-and-tenon like systems, three at each side. The design of the mortise-and-tenon systems is such that neither the connecting pin nor the securing bolt are exposed to mechanical impacts but protected by the massive body of the system. The closure system ensures that the top and bottom half remain tightly connected during routine conditions of transport (RCT), NCT and ACT. The design of the closure system assures that it cannot be opened unintentionally. 5) The intumescent thermal protection. In order to reduce the impact of the thermal test on the 30B cylinder to ensure containment the DN30 PSP has an intumescent thermal protection. This protection as well as the results of tests are presented in another paper of PATRAM 2016. 6) The P10 tube receptacles. The DN30 PSP is equipped with receptacles allowing the transport of P10 sample tubes containing samples of the content of the 30B cylinder together with the respective cylinder. (author)