Field testing of the Cobra Seal System

The Cobra Seal System consists of a passive fiber optic seal and verification equipment which have been modified to take advantage of current technology. The seal permits on-site verification without requiring replacement of the seal. The modifications to the original Cobra Seal System extended the maximum fiber optic cable length from 1 meter to 10 meters. This improvement allowed the Cobra Seal to be considered for application on dry irradiated fuel storage canisters at two Canadian facilities. These canisters are located in an exterior environment exposed to extreme weather conditions. This paper describe the application of the Cobra Seal to these canisters, a housing for the protection of the Cobra Seal body from the environment, and some preliminary results of the IAEA field tests. 4 refs.