Nuclear & Radioactive playlist:
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Radioactive waste transportation safety tests conducted by Sandia National Laboratories in 1977 and 1978. A truck carrying a 22 ton nuclear waste flask (aka cask) crashes head on into a 690 ton concrete block at 60 miles per hour. After cleanup, the same cask is impacted into the block at 84 miles per hour. 3rd test: a locomotive crashes into a truck holding a 25 ton radioactive waste cask at 81 miles per hour. Final test: a 74 ton nuclear waste cask aboard a cask rail car impacts the concrete block at 81 mph, then is burned by a pool of jet fuel for 90 minutes, during which temps exceeded 1400 degrees F. What is not mentioned is the possibility of a nuclear waste cask truck impacting another truck traveling at 60+ mph in the opposite direction making the combined velocity 120+ mph.
Public domain film slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
A nuclear flask is a shipping container that is used to transport active nuclear materials between nuclear power station and spent fuel reprocessing facilities.
Each shipping container is designed to maintain its integrity under normal transportation conditions and during hypothetical accident conditions. They must protect their contents against damage from the outside world, such as impact or fire. They must also contain their contents from leakage, both for physical leakage and for radiological shielding.
Spent nuclear fuel shipping casks are used to transport spent nuclear fuel used in nuclear power plants and research reactors to disposal sites such as the nuclear reprocessing center at COGEMA La Hague site…
In the United States, the acceptability of the design of each cask is judged against Title 10, Part 71, of the Code of Federal Regulations (other nations’ shipping casks, possibly excluding Russia’s, are designed and tested to similar standards (International Atomic Energy Agency “Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material” No. TS-R-1)). The designs must demonstrate (possibly by computer modelling) protection against radiological release to the environment under all four of the following hypothetical accident conditions, designed to encompass 99% of all accidents:
– A 9-meter (30 ft) free fall onto an unyielding surface
– A puncture test allowing the container to free-fall 1 meter (about 39 inches) onto a steel rod 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) in diameter
– A 30-minute, all-engulfing fire at 800 degrees Celsius (1475 degrees Fahrenheit)
– An 8-hour immersion under 0.9 meter (3 ft) of water.
– Further, an undamaged package must be subjected to a one-hour immersion under 200 meters (655 ft) of water.
In addition, between 1975 and 1977 Sandia National Laboratories conducted full-scale crash tests on spent nuclear fuel shipping casks. Although the casks were damaged, none would have leaked…
Since 1965, approximately 3,000 shipments of spent nuclear fuel have been transported safely over the U.S.’s highways, waterways, and railroads.
Baltimore train tunnel fire
On July 18, 2001, a freight train carrying hazardous (non-nuclear) materials derailed and caught fire while passing through the Howard Street railroad tunnel in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The fire burned for 3 days, with temperatures as high as 1000 °C (1800 °F). Since the casks are designed for a 30-minute fire at 800 °C (1475 °F), several reports have been made regarding the inability of the casks to survive…
State of Nevada
The State of Nevada, USA, released a report entitled, “Implications of the Baltimore Rail Tunnel Fire for Full-Scale Testing of Shipping Casks” on February 25, 2003. In the report, they said a hypothetical spent nuclear fuel accident based on the Baltimore fire:
– “Concluded steel-lead-steel cask would have failed after 6.3 hours; monolithic steel cask would have failed after 11-12.5 hours.”
– “Contaminated Area: 32 square miles (82 km2)”
– “Latent cancer fatalities: 4,000-28,000 over 50 years (200-1,400 during first year)”
– “Cleanup cost: $13.7 Billion (2001 Dollars)”…
