Spent Fuel Sabotage Test Program and Surrogate Aerosol Particle Analyses Update

This multinational, multi-phase spent fuel sabotage test program is quantifying the mass and chemistry of aerosol particles produced when a high energy density device (HEDD) interacts with and explosively particulates test rodlets that contain pellets of either surrogate materials or actual spent fuel. This program, underway for several years, will provide needed source term data that are relevant to estimation of the consequence of plausible sabotage attack scenarios on spent fuel transport and storage casks. The measured aerosol data, from experiments within a contained test chamber, are the input for follow-on modeling studies to quantify respirable hazards, associated radiological risk assessments, vulnerability assessments, and potential cask physical protection design modifications. These assessments may help guide development of transportation safety and security regulations and/or validate their current technical bases. We are quantifying the spent fuel ratio, SFR, the ratio of the aerosol particles produced from HEDD-affected actual spent fuel to the aerosol particles produced from surrogate materials, measured under closely matched test conditions. We summarize measured aerosol particle size distributions, plus analyses and interpretations for the respirable fractions produced from surrogate cerium oxide pellets, Zircaloy cladding tube, and fission product dopant cesium, plus enhanced fission product sorption onto the respirable particles. This paper provides an update of the fully contained, aerosol-explosive testing progress over about the last year, including: the conclusion of, and results from, aerosol measurements from rodlets containing nonradioactive cerium oxide sintered ceramic surrogate pellets and fission product dopants; status of test initiation with rodlets of depleted uranium oxide and actual spent fuel (both high- and lowburnup) pellets; and, an update on explosive containment and aerosol collection test components and nuclear facility related issues. The test program is strongly supported and coordinated by both the U.S. and international program participants in Germany, France, and the U.K., as part of the international Working Group for Sabotage Concerns of Transport and Storage Casks, WGSTSC.