The New TN EAGLE Transport Cask
AUTHOR
Nicolas Guibert
Orano TN
PRESENTED
Feb. 28, 2023
Waste Management Symposia
ABSTRACT
A few years ago, Orano Nuclear Packaging and Services established a joint project team between American and French engineering teams to develop a new portfolio of high-performance, cost-competitive dual-purpose casks for storage and transport of bare fuel and welded canisters. This new generation of casks would align the product offerings of Orano in Europe, America, and Asia. The TN Eagle® is considered as the newest addition to the Orano Type B fleet of transport casks.
This paper will provide an update of this project and will include the design, licensing, and first fabrication of this new product, as summarized below.
This development project was launched in 2018 and the French
transport license was obtained in 2020. In the U.S., the initial transport license application was submitted in 2020, with NRC approval expected by 2023.The confinement boundary uses a thick steel, forged body as the main design feature, achieving the
goal of producing the cask without any welding.
The second goal accomplished was minimizing the number of parts to reduce complexity and lead time.
The final assembly and testing will be done in a new dedicated Orano facility in Cherbourg, France. The first step of the assembly process has already been successfully achieved in this facility.
The final goal of this package development is to improve the design to increase fabrication speed and enhance safety features. Design flexibility for various markets is a key element, with one standard packaging system able to meet European and American requirements, including:
The TN Eagle represents a simple and modular concept for improved competitiveness allowed by industrial innovations that will be discussed. These concepts include:
The TN Eagle is a combination of proven and innovative technological bricks with the following features:
Figure 1. TN Eagle and NUHOMS storage system
The TN Eagle represents a simple and modular concept for competitive and improved performance. Using an automated assembly without welding and machining associated with a simplified manufacturing process improves the quality, performance, and reliability of the critical production stages. A larger supply chain ensures the procurement process, as well as a cost reduction-oriented design with an optimized price-per-fuel element.
The TN Eagle is a combination of standard and proven technological bricks with innovative features:
Figure 2. TN Eagle Assembly for EOS Canister
Nicolas Guibert
Orano TN
PRESENTED
Feb. 28, 2023
Waste Management Symposia
ABSTRACT
A few years ago, Orano Nuclear Packaging and Services established a joint project team between American and French engineering teams to develop a new portfolio of high-performance, cost-competitive dual-purpose casks for storage and transport of bare fuel and welded canisters. This new generation of casks would align the product offerings of Orano in Europe, America, and Asia. The TN Eagle® is considered as the newest addition to the Orano Type B fleet of transport casks.
This paper will provide an update of this project and will include the design, licensing, and first fabrication of this new product, as summarized below.
This development project was launched in 2018 and the French
transport license was obtained in 2020. In the U.S., the initial transport license application was submitted in 2020, with NRC approval expected by 2023.The confinement boundary uses a thick steel, forged body as the main design feature, achieving the
goal of producing the cask without any welding.The second goal accomplished was minimizing the number of parts to reduce complexity and lead time.
The final assembly and testing will be done in a new dedicated Orano facility in Cherbourg, France. The first step of the assembly process has already been successfully achieved in this facility.
The final goal of this package development is to improve the design to increase fabrication speed and enhance safety features. Design flexibility for various markets is a key element, with one standard packaging system able to meet European and American requirements, including:
- A French transport license for bare fuel and a storage license that meets European requirements
- A U.S. transport license for the NUHOMS® EOSTM and TN Dry Shielded Canisters (DSC).
The TN Eagle represents a simple and modular concept for improved competitiveness allowed by industrial innovations that will be discussed. These concepts include:
- an automated assembly without welding and machining associated with a simplified manufacturing process to improve the quality, the performance, and to secure the critical stages of production.
- A larger supply chain securing the procurement as well as a cost reduction-oriented design with an optimized price-per-fuel-element transported.
The TN Eagle is a combination of proven and innovative technological bricks with the following features:
- Proven design choices (e.g., thick forged body, bolted lid)
- A shielding layer made without welding
- Modularity at the core of the concept
- Up to 10 times fewer components compared to the previous generation of dual-purpose casks
- Neutron absorbing resin with increased long-term resistance to high temperature
- Extremely high capacity (up to 38.4 kW under Transportation Part 71 License)
INTRODUCTION
This paper will introduce the TN Eagle and present the main features of this new cask concept with a focus on the major innovations in the licensing approach and the modular design.THE TN EAGLE: A NEW GENERATION OF DUAL-PURPOSE CASKS WITH IMPROVED SAFETY, PRODUCTIVITY, AND COMPETITIVENESS
The TN Eagle is the newest Type B transport package being added to the fleet of packages owned and operated by Orano TN. Among many others, the fleet of Type B casks in the U.S. already includes the MP197HB® and the TN-RAM, both currently in operation in the United States. The TN Eagle concept is based on the NUHOMS technology using sealed canisters loaded with used nuclear fuel, which are placed into horizontal storage modules (HSM) for storage on an interim spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). The simple and robust design allows for safe and secure operations. Once the canisters are loaded with spent nuclear fuel, they are pushed into the storage modules with a hydraulic ram; the canisters are never suspended or unsupported in the process.The TN Eagle represents a simple and modular concept for competitive and improved performance. Using an automated assembly without welding and machining associated with a simplified manufacturing process improves the quality, performance, and reliability of the critical production stages. A larger supply chain ensures the procurement process, as well as a cost reduction-oriented design with an optimized price-per-fuel element.
The TN Eagle is a combination of standard and proven technological bricks with innovative features:
- Proven design choices (e.g., thick forged body, bolted lid)
- A shielding layer made without welding
- Modularity at the core of the concept
- Almost 10 times fewer components compared to the previous generation of dual-purpose casks
- Neutron absorbing resin with increased long-term resistance to high temperature
- Extremely high capacity (up to 38.4 kW under Transportation Part 71 License)
A PROVEN CONCEPT TO SECURE THE LICENSING PROCESS
The modularity of the concept allows the TN Eagle to be either a dual-purpose (transport and interim storage) or transportation only cask- First dual-purpose casks to be certified IAEA 2018 in France
- A multi-authority licensing strategy
- Transport license granted by the French Safety Authority within one year thanks to a proven safety approach and experience with safety authority expectations. Storage license preparation underway
- In the U.S., NRC Transport certificate review underway
Figure 3. TN Eagle in Transport configuration OVERALL DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHTS
The cask can accommodate many types of TN canisters and can be handled by multimodal means in the US.Table 1: Key weights and dimensions 
Figure 4. TN Eagle mock-up MORE THAN A PROOF OF CONCEPT, ORANO TN EAGLE IS ALREADY CLOSE TO BEING OPERATIONAL
The TN Eagle is licensed for transport in France and is in the process of being licensed in the U.S. The cask went through a mock-up drop test phase and the fabrication steps have been validated.
The body of the first cask unit has been fabricated already in 2022. The first assembly/integration was completed in 2022 in the new TN Eagle facility in France.
Figure 5. TN Eagle first unit during fabrication
TN plans to implement the numerous lessons learned from operating the MP197HB cask by rail in support of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning campaign. The way the TN Eagle is operated in similar to the MP197HB.THE ORANO NPS TN EAGLE PLANT
To deliver this new generation of dual-purpose casks safely and efficiently to customers, Orano NPS is building a dedicated assembly facility.- Strategic location to deliver TN Eagle casks throughout the world in the port of Cherbourg, only a few kilometers from the Orano NPS Valognes rail terminal and Orano NPS maritime terminal
- Production capacity of 30 TN Eagle casks per year
- Fully automated facility through a partnership with the leader in the conception of automated production lines in the aerospace industry
- Standardized assembly process to reduce costs, consolidate delivery schedule, and secure critical steps of the cask production.
CONCLUSION
The TN Eagle is the newest addition to the fleet of Type B transport packages for the shipment of used nuclear fuel. This new cask is designed to meet the latest regulatory standards in Europe and the U.S. This package is the result of a unique international collaborative approach, including the engineering teams from France and the United States with a strong focus on the safety, quality, performance, and final cost. The key benefits of these packages compared to the previous generations are increased safety performance, improved capacity for legacy canisters and the new EOS® canisters, innovative U.S. and European design and licensing approach, and standardization and simplification of the fabrication process to reduce costs. This new TN Eagle package brings assurance that the used nuclear fuel stored in TN Dry Shielded Canisters will be transportable safely and at a competitive cost now and in the future.RESOURCES
Video: The New TN Eagle factory - Transport license granted by the French Safety Authority within one year thanks to a proven safety approach and experience with safety authority expectations. Storage license preparation underway
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