(A) study on radiation shielding design in MACSTOR-400(CANDU spent fuel storage facility)

Abstract

Since the spent fuel pool will be saturated in the near future, spent fuel storage facilities are urgently needed. Because of high radiation and decay heat, spent fuel management is difficult and important. In this study, the shielding thickness of MACSTOR-400 that satisfies the general surface dose rate limit has been investigated. And the radiation shielding safety at site boundary has also been evaluated. IAEA recommends the safety series as a guideline and the U.S. follows the NUREG guide for spent fuel storage facility design. In Japan, the regulation for internal transfer is applied to the spent fuel storage. In Korea, the ACT notification for radiation protection is considered. As a shielding design requirement, it is stated that the occupational exposure dose rate must not exceed 1 mSv/week. From this value, it is assumed that the surface dose rate limit is 25 μSv/hr. And for multi unit operation in same site, the dose rate limit at the controlled area boundary is 0.25 mSv/yr. MCNP code and Microshield program were used for calculating the surface dose rate and the dose rate at site boundary respectively. The shielding should be at least 90 cm thick except the air inlet to follow the surface dose rate limit. Additional shielding is needed on air inlet because the dose rate on air inlet is higher than the dose rate on concrete surface. Without the shielding structure, the shielding thickness should be at least 127 cm. In order to satisfy the surface dose rate limit with maintaining the same concrete thickness on air inlet, shielding structure is required on air inlet. The optimum shielding structure has been proposed in this study. The allowable number of MACSTORs with considering other nuclear facilities in Wolsung site is calculated at 60. It is expected that the required number of MACSTORs are 28 in order to store the total amount of spent fuel generated during NPP operation in Wolsung. Therefore, it seems to be safe in radiation point at site boundar...