Sealed canister liquid sampling for fuel characterization shipments

摘要

N-Reactor spent fuel elements will be removed from the sealed fuel storage canisters in the KW Basin and shipped to the 300 Area hot cells for characterization studies. Some of the canisters contain broken fuel elements exposing metallic uranium to the canister water. The exposed uranium surfaces have reacted with the water releasing fission product nuclides to the canister water. The extent of this release is unknown, but large radionuclide inventories could cause significant releases to the basin water. To avoid this, a method is needed to evaluate the magnitude of the canister water radioactivity to help make decisions about which canisters should not be opened for fuel sampling. The objective of this document is to provide a conceptual description of the process for obtaining and evaluating gas and liquid samples from KW fuel canisters in support of fuel characterization shipments. Also described are the decisions regarding the acceptability of a sample, the actions to be taken to obtain an acceptable sample, and the logical leading to decisions about opening canisters for fuel characterization sampling. This document will help guide a safety analysis of the liquid sampling process and the development of detailed procedures for the process. Outside the scope of this document are the processes for opening canisters, selecting fuel samples from opened canisters, shipping fuel samples, and closing canisters.