Dispersal of Spent Fuel -Reply

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

Hi Charlie,

It's been 20 years since I did the spent fuel inventory and safety analyses. I 
wouldn't have thought that blowing up a fuel assembly that's more than a few
years old would be "tragic", other than cleanup cost with some very hot
"pieces"  :-)  But what are the releases? 

What is your sense of the scenario and releases/doses you have in mind?

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com
=========================
> Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 13:12:48 -0500
> From: Charles Willis <CAW@nrc.gov>
> Subject: Dispersal of Spent Fuel -Reply
> 
> The hazard from blowing up a spent fuel assembly in the open would depend on man
> y factors
> with the most obvious being the magnitude of the explosion and the radioactivity
>  content of the
> fuel assembly (determined by the power, operation time and time since removal fr
> om the
> reactor).  If the fuel were old enough to be legitimately moved from the reactor
>  facility,  the
> principal radiological hazard would be from the scattered pieces of radioactive 
> metal.  Such an
> event probably would be tragic, but probably more damage would result from blowi
> ng up an
> apartment house or office building.