of uranium hexafluoride

Transcription

1 IAEA-TECDOC-608 Interim guidance on the safe transport of uranium hexafluoride INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

2 The IAEA does

3 INTERIM GUIDANCE ON THE SAFE TRANSPORT OF URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE IAEA, VIENNA, 1991 IAEA-TECDOC-608 ISSN Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 1991

4 Since FOREWORD

5 into which

6 according to the consultants' advice. An extract of the Consultants' Report comprising the contentious issues is appended to the Foreword to highlight the problem area and the uncertainties that still exist. The present document, which supersedes IAEA-TECDOC-423, is the outcome of two Technical Committee Meetings, three Consultants Service Meetings and three rounds of comments by Member States. The eighth meeting of SAGSTRAM convened in Vienna in December 1990 recommended, contrary to earlier recommendations, the publication of the document again as a TECDOC, representing a statement of the work done

7 Extract from the Report of the Consultants Service Meeting (CSM) on the Development of a Safety Guide on Guidance for Providing Protection during the Transport

8 thermal test currently applicable to Type B packages - viz. para 628 of Safety Series

9 EDITORIAL NOTE In preparing this material for the press, staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency have mounted

10 CONTENTS SECTION I. INTRODUCTION SECTION

11 Section I INTRODUCTION Uranium hexafluoride (UF,. ) is a radioactive material that has D significant non-radiological hazardous properties.

12 properties by interaction of contents with the atmosphere or with water (e.g., the case of UF )." The United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

13 involved

14 Section n RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SAFE TRANSPORT OF URANIUM HEXAFLUORBDE ADDITIONAL

15 (8) "Service equipment" shall mean the closures of penetrations (valves

16 2.08 The package shall be so designed that, if it were subjected to the leak test as specified in para 2.18 no leakage in excess of the specified value

17 Inspection and Testing 2.13 Every manufactured packaging and its components, either together or separately, shall

18 with a sensitivity of 0.1 Pa L/s. The pressure to be used in this test shall

19 provide 5% ullage at a maximum working temperature of 113 C based on a UF & density densü of 3.33 g/cm and the actual certified volume of the cylinder

20

21 Section m ADVISORY MATERIAL A 2.10 No actual fire test is required in order to demonstrate compliance.

22 Section IV EXPLANATORY MATERIAL E 2.02(10) It is important to note that the tare mass is defined for cleaned cylinders.

23 The

24 Appendix

25 (iv)

26

27 TABLE

28

29

30 Appendix

31 The diagrams for UF (liquid, solid D phases, densities and heat capacities of UF, D

32 ë»m o Temperature,

33 I2-JO K p OC 1200 P^ ij -H c Q Ideal Gas Law Equation of State, Magnuson Equation 1000

34 Il D» H O J " " U 1 " 7 u «rt J3

35 46.7 TÏÏT 45.5 FIG. AII.6. Heat capacity of the liquid UF

36

37 Chemical properties All.4. Uranium hexafluoride

38 meteorological conditions, the plume might still have a considerable concentration of unhydrolysed UF, even at a distance of several hundred metres. Activity of UF, All.6.

39 All.8. daughter compounds As UF, is produced by a chemical process its equilibrium with its

40 All.11. Depleted and natural UF, are not classified as fissile materials, o and accordingly there is no possibility for nuclear criticality during transport. Although uranium enriched

41 Appendix

42 AIII.5.

43 multiply

44 NTRATION)

45 POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF ACCIDENTS AIII.10. The chemical hazard may dominate the consequences of transport accidents involving depleted, natural

46 A massive UF release may result in dangerous concentrations of both uranium and HF and may also cause area contamination of several square kilometres. A discussion of such a hypothetical accident is given in Ref. [10]. In that document some emergency procedures are recommended. AIII.15. In considering possible accidents involving the transport of UF,

47 REFERENCES

48 [11] GEFFEN, O.A., JOHNSON, J.F.,

49 CONSULTANTS MEETING. CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW

50 Jincho,

51 Webster, A.R. Department of Transport, United Kingdom Wieser, K. Bundesanstalt

52 CONSULTANTS SERVICES MEETING April 1988 Levin, I. (Scientific Secretary) Pryor, W. Wieser,

53 Reynolds, R. Ridder,

54 Shiomij S. Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan Thomas, B.C. Gaseous Diffusion Operations, Takahashi, M. Young, C.

55 HOW TO ORDER IAEA PUBLICATIONS An exclusive sales agent