Summary and evaluation of steel billet testing

Tests were performed at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to assess loading conditions on a spent fuel storage cask for end drops, side drops and tipover events. The tests were performed with a 1/3-scale model billet and a 1/3-scale model concrete pad, and included a variety of substrate materials. A NUREG/CR report was prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and provides a summary and an evaluation of all the billet testing conducted. This paper provides a description of the testing and analysis method, and a summary of the results. A generic or representative cask was modeled with the benchmarked finite element analysis approach and evaluated for ISFSI end and side drops and tipover events. The analytical method can be applied to similar casks to estimate deceleration loads on storage casks resulting from low-velocity drop or tipover impacts onto concrete storage pads.