Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Gas and Vapor

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

UN-DOT
Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations
Hydrogen
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

Adiabatic Calorimetry
Data demonstrate the consequences of process upsets, such as failed equipment or improper procedures, and guide mitigation strategies including Emergency Relief System (ERS) design
Reaction Calorimetry
Data yield heat and gas removal requirements to control the desired process chemistry
Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Cable Testing
Evaluate electrical cables to demonstrate reliability and identify defects or degradation
Equipment Qualification (EQ)
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Water Hammer
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent unwanted hydraulic pressure transients in process piping
Acoustic Vibration
Identify and eliminate potential sources of unwanted vibration in piping and structural systems
Gas & Air Intrusion
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent intrusion of gas or air in piping systems
ISO/IEC 17025:2017

Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing

ISO 9001:2015
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO 9001:2015
Dust Hazards Analysis
Evaluate your process to identify combustible dust hazards and perform dust explosion testing
On-Site Risk Management
On-site safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up
DIERS Methodology
Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods
Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safely handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

FATE™ & Facility Modeling

FATE (Facility Flow, Aerosol, Thermal, and Explosion) is a flexible, fast-running code developed and maintained by Fauske and Associates under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA program.

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical
Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid, flow, and electric power systems
Hydrogen Safety
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Thermal Hydraulics
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Nuclear Safety
Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant
Radioactive Waste
Safety analysis to underpin decomissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials
Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

Blog

Our highly experienced team keeps you up-to-date on the latest process safety developments.

Process Safety Newsletter

Stay informed with our quarterly Process Safety Newsletters sharing topical articles and practical advice.

Resources

With over 40 years of industry expertise, we have a wealth of process safety knowledge to share.

Recent Posts

Innovative Hydrogen Removal Design, Shielded Containers: Nuclear Plant

Posted by Fauske & Associates on 03.16.15

By James P. Burlebach, PhD, Manager, Waste Technology & Post-Fukushima Services, Fauske & Associates, LLC

Nuclear waste that contains metallic spent nuclear fuel pieces or sludge generates hydrogen as a product of chemical reactions and from radiolysis of water. These waste materials may be stored in shielded boxes with filtered vents for removal of the hydrogen to prevent formation of flammable gas mixtures.  Bore holes drilled through shielding add resistance to hydrogen removal that can allow unwanted accumulation of hydrogen. 

The innovative work described here was performed by Fauske & Associates, LLC, (FAI) a wholly owned subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC, in partnership with Sellafield, Ltd. In partnership, we have conceived, modeled, and experimentally verified an effective method for hydrogen removal from shielded boxes with significant hydrogen generation rates. This innovation minimizes the number of filters required for passive storage of spent metallic nuclear fuel pieces and other hydrogen-generating waste streams.

Many commercially available filters are suitable for removal of hydrogen from unshielded nuclear waste containers such as 200 L drums. The rate of hydrogen removal through a filter varies with filter size and materials. The key filter specification provided by the manufacturer is the filter coefficient, expressed in units of moles hydrogen per second per mole fraction difference across the filter. The size of filter for a given application is chosen based on the hydrogen source rate and the required upper limit for hydrogen concentration. 

Shielded containers are made of much thicker materials than conventional containers. In order for the hydrogen to escape from the container, it must first pass through a channel drilled into the shielding material (the flow path) then through the filter and out into the surrounding atmosphere. The rate at which hydrogen escapes from the container depends upon the difference in hydrogen concentration between the two sides of the filter. Because shielding keeps the fuel, and the bulk of the hydrogen, away from the filter, the hydrogen flow rate through the filter is reduced. So, removal of hydrogen through any filter is less effective in a shielded container than it would be for the same filter on an unshielded container. For systems where the hydrogen source is chemical reactions, the source rate is typically much larger than from radiolysis, and this might make hydrogen removal impractical.

For example, a shielded container with a bore hole of 20 mm diameter and 300 mm length drilled through the shielding would allow hydrogen to escape at only one-tenth the rate that it would in an unshielded container (in engineering terms, the system efficiency is 10%). As a consequence, the number of filters required would increase tenfold.

The key to hydrogen removal from a shielded container is to reduce the flow resistance such that the filter is the main resistance. We have developed an innovative arrangement to promote hydrogen flow to the filter via a pair of bore holes in the shielded container lid, Figure 1. This design takes advantage of buoyancy induced natural circulation. Gas from the container flows up one of the bore holes into the plenum beneath the filter and then down the other bore hole, returning to the container.  We have performed modeling for this design which demonstrates that the efficiency of the double bore system can be in the range of 80% to 90%.  This high efficiency minimizes the number of vents required.

 Double bore hole arrangement with single filter

Figure 1. Double bore hole arrangement with single filter

For additional information, be sure to stop by Dr. Burelbach's poster session titled  Innovative Hydrogen Removal Design for Self-Shielded Containers at the WM2015 Conference this Wednesday, March 18 from 1:30 - 5:00 in the first floor foyer of the Phoenix Convention Center, or contact Dr. Burelbach at 630-887-5221 or burelbach@fauske.com

Nuclear plant, nuclear safety

Subscribe to FAI's "Nuclear Technical Bulletins"

Preventing Phenolic Resin Reactor Accidents: "Easy to Use" Procedure for Checking Adequacy of Emergency Relief Vent Sizes

               

Topics: Nuclear

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