Selection and certification of materials for casks intended for the transport and intermediate storage of spent fuel

In the Federal Republic of Germany, casks for the transport and intermediate storage of spent fuel have to meet the IAEA requirements for type B(U) packagings on the one hand and additional storage requirements on the other. The selection and qualification of materials, able to meet the above-mentioned requirements with regard to a wide range of loads both under service and accident conditions are summarized. This was done for spent fuel element casks of GNS-CASTOR type and the TN 1300 type. The evaluations by BAM were done by considering the IAEA transport regulations as well as the requirements of the German Atomic Law as far as the establishement of nuclear facilities are concerned. For the actual application procedure for the AFR storage facilities Ahaus and Gorleben, BAM has finished an expertise on the behavior of CASTOR casks both under normal and accident conditions