Assessment of the integrity of spent fuel assemblies used in dry storage demonstrations at the Nevada Test Site

This report summarizes the histories of 17 Zircaloy-clad spent fuel assemblies used in dry storage tests and demonstrations at the Engine Maintenance and Disassembly (EMAD) and Climax facilities at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The 18th assembly was shipped to the Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) and remained there for extensive characterization and as a source of specimens for whole-rod and rod-segment dry storage tests. The report traces the history of the assemblies after discharge from the Turkey Point Unit 3 pressurized-water reactor (1975 and 1977) through shipment (first arrival at EMAD in December 1978), dry storage tests and demonstrations, and shipment by truck cask from EMAD to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in May/June 1986. The principal objectives of this report are to assess and document the integrity of the fuel during the extensive dry storage activities at NTS and BCL, and to briefly summarize the dry storage technologies and procedures demonstrated in this program. The dry storage tests and demonstrations involved the following concepts and facilities: (1) surface drywells (EMAD); (2) deep drywells (425 m underground in the Climax granite formation); (3) concrete silo (EMAD); (4) air-cooled vault (EMAD); (5) electrically-heated module for fuel assembly thermal calibration and testing (EMAD/FAITM). 20 refs., 43 figs., 9 tabs