A METHOD FOR ESTIMATING GAS PRESSURE IN 3013 CONTAINERS USING AN ISP DATABASE QUERY

Friday, G ; L. G. Peppers, L ; D. K. Veirs, D

关键词: COMPLIANCE;    CONTAINERS;    EVALUATION;    GASES;    GLOVES;    HYDROGEN;    MOISTURE;    PACKAGING;    PLUTONIUM;    RADIOLYSIS;    SAFETY;    STABILIZATION;    STORAGE;    WATER;   

DOI  :  10.2172/936603
RP-ID  :  WSRC-STI-2008-00214
PID  :  OSTI ID: 936603
Others  :  TRN: US200818%%1226

学科分类：再生能源与代替技术

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The U.S. Department of Energy's Integrated Surveillance Program (ISP) is responsible for the storage and surveillance of plutonium-bearing material. During storage, plutonium-bearing material has the potential to generate hydrogen gas from the radiolysis of adsorbed water. The generation of hydrogen gas is a safety concern, especially when a container is breached within a glove box during destructive evaluation. To address this issue, the DOE established a standard (DOE, 2004) that sets the criteria for the stabilization and packaging of material for up to 50 years. The DOE has now packaged most of its excess plutonium for long-term storage in compliance with this standard. As part of this process, it is desirable to know within reasonable certainty the total maximum pressure of hydrogen and other gases within the 3013 container if safety issues and compliance with the DOE standards are to be attained. The principal goal of this investigation is to document the method and query used to estimate total (i.e. hydrogen and other gases) gas pressure within a 3013 container based on the material properties and estimated moisture content contained in the ISP database. Initial attempts to estimate hydrogen gas pressure in 3013 containers was based on G-values (hydrogen gas generation per energy input) derived from small scale samples. These maximum G-values were used to calculate worst case pressures based on container material weight, assay, wattage, moisture content, container age, and container volume. This paper documents a revised hydrogen pressure calculation that incorporates new surveillance results and includes a component for gases other than hydrogen. The calculation is produced by executing a query of the ISP database. An example of manual mathematical computations from the pressure equation is compared and evaluated with results from the query. Based on the destructive evaluation of 17 containers, the estimated mean absolute pressure was significantly higher (P<.01) than the mean GEST pressure. There was no significant difference (P>.10) between the mean pressures from DR and the calculation. The mean predicted absolute pressure was consistently higher than GEST by an average difference of 57 kPa (8 psi). The mean difference between the estimated pressure and digital radiography was 11 kPa (2 psi). Based on the initial results of destructive evaluation, the pressure query was found to provide a reasonably conservative estimate of the total pressure in 3013 containers whose material contained minimal moisture content.