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  6. Safety of Storage Containers

The core task of the division Safety of Storage Containers is the safety evaluation of containers for interim storage and final disposal of radioactive materials as applicable to license procedures under nuclear legislation. This includes the establishment and monitoring of quality assurance measures for container fabrication and use. It also involves experimental and numerical container analyses for mechanical and thermal loads under normal operating conditions as well as in accident scenarios.

Our research is beneficial to the safety assessment expertise, and with it, we support the development of testing methods and safety standards. We research primarily on the long-term behaviour of materials, components and container systems, and on the determination of failure limits under extreme thermal and mechanical loads. This enables us to advise government ministries, authorities, industry and the public on all matters relating to container safety.

We also work as part of national and international rule setting committees and collaborate with numerous national and international partners.

  • Fields of expertise

    • Scientific based safety evaluation of containers for interim storage and final disposal of radioactive materials
    • Evaluation of quality assurance measures for fabrication and use of containers
    • Experimental investigation of thermo-mechanically and radiologically related ageing of container materials and components
    • International partnerships and expertise in the field of container storage and disposal
    • Numerical container analyses, development of validated finite element models (including material and failure models)

  • Main activities

    • Container design testing and safety evaluation, including quality monitoring for interim storage and “Konrad” disposal containers
    • R&D projects on thermal and mechanical container analysis, on long-term behaviour of sealing systems and on degradation of non-metallic container components
    • Cooperation in international projects (IAEA, USA) for long-term interim storage
    • Information exchange and provision of consulting services at federal and state level
    • Publication of key findings in technical and scientific journals and at conferences

  • Range of services/technical equipment

    • Test facility with workshop and various heating and climate chambers for experimental investigations on ageing
    • Dynamic-mechanical analysis device (DMA) to determine viscoelastic material parameters in the -150 to +400°C temperature range
    • Helium leak test devices for leak testing in high-vacuum regimes
    • Server cluster for FEM calculations using ABAQUS®, ANSYS® and LS-DYNA® as well as graphical workstations for data 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

Dr.-Ing. Holger Voelzke, Head of Divisions Safety of Transport Containers and Safety of Storage Containers, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)

Contact Dr.-Ing. Hol­ger Völzke

Head of Division 3.4

Branch Fabeckstraße

Phone: +49 30 8104-1340

Email

Researchgate