Safety of Storage Containers

Division 3.4

The core task of the Safety of Storage Containers division is the scientific safety assessment of interim and final storage containers for radioactive materials within the framework of nuclear licensing and supervisory procedures, including the specification and monitoring of quality assurance measures for container manufacture and operation.

In addition to basic engineering and materials science analysis methods, the competence spectrum also includes experimental and numerical container analyses for mechanical and thermal stresses under normal operation and accident conditions such as container drop and fire.

Through our research, we continuously develop our safety assessment competence, promote the development of advanced testing methods and standards and support the promotion of young scientists.

We conduct research on the long-term behaviour of materials, components and container systems and on the determination of failure limits under extreme thermal and mechanical load scenarios as well as taking long-term degradation effects into account.
This enables us to advise ministries, authorities, industry and the public on all questions of container safety.

We participate in national and international committees for the development of regulations and cooperate with numerous national and international partners.

Fields of expertise

Scientific container safety assessment for interim and final storage of radioactive materials
Assessment of quality assurance measures for container manufacture and operation
Numerical container analyses (mechanical, thermal), development of validated finite element models, failure models, simulation models for long-term behaviour (e.g. for container sealing systems)
Experimental investigation of thermal-mechanical and radiological ageing effects on container materials and components
International cooperation and expertise in the field of interim storage and final disposal of radioactive waste.

Main activities

Container design testing and safety assessment including quality monitoring (interim storage containers, Konrad disposal containers), documentation of results in expert reports and expert opinions
R&D projects on thermal and mechanical cask analysis, on the long-term behaviour of sealing systems, on the degradation of non-metallic cask components, on the failure behaviour of fuel rod cladding tubes
Participation in international projects on long-term interim storage
Exchange of information and consultation at Federal and Länder level as well as internationally (e.g. IAEA)
Publication of relevant research outcomes, primarily in peer-reviewed journals and at national and international conferences.

Range of services/technical equipment

Test hall with workshop and various heating and climatic cabinets for experimental investigations on ageing behaviour
Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) to determine viscoelastic material parameters in the temperature range -150 to +400 °C
Equipment for determining the compressive stress relaxation of elastomers
Helium leak testers for leak testing in the high-vacuum range, vacuum test benches for determining the leak rate via the pressure change method
Server cluster for FEM calculations and model development with ABAQUS^®, ANSYS^®and LS-DYNA^® as well as graphics workstations for pre- and post-processing

Publications of the division

In the database PUBLICA you will find publications by BAM employees.

Publications of the division Safety of Storage Containers in PUBLICA

PUBLICA