Spent nuclear fuel project detonation phenomena of hydrogen/oxygen in spent fuel containers

Movement of Spent N Reactor fuels from the Hanford K Basins near the Columbia River to Dry interim storage facility on the Hanford plateau will require repackaging the fuel in the basins into multi-canister overpacks (MCOs), drying of the fuel, transporting the contained fuel, hot conditioning, and finally interim storage. Each of these functions will be accomplished while the fuel is contained in the MCOs by several mechanisms. The principal source of hydrogenand oxygen within the MCOs is residual water from the vacuum drying and hot conditioning operations. This document assesses the detonation phenomena of hydrogen and oxygen in the spent fuel containers. Several process scenarios have been identified that could generate detonation pressures that exceed the nominal 10 atmosphere design limit ofthe MCOS. Only 42 grams of radiolized water are required to establish this condition.