| IAEA (Current) | IAEA (Pending, 1996) | U.S. Domestic (NUREG 0360) | U.S. Transit (Murkowski) | EUROCAE (1990) ("black box") | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard-Target Impact Test | Package is dropped 9 meters (30 feet) onto a hard, essentially unyielding surface, so as to suffer the maximum damage. The terminal velocity is 44 ft/sec (30 mph). | The package shall be subjected to an impact onto a hard, essentially unyielding target at a velocity of not less than 90 m/s (295 ft/s) (201 mph) at such an orientation as to suffer maximum damage. | The package is rocket propelled into a hard, essentially unyielding target at a speed of at least 422 ft./sec (288 mph) (129 m/s) or at a free fall velocity, whichever is greater, at the orientation expected to result in maximum damage. | 1. An actual drop test of a package from maximum cruising altitude, and 2. Actual crash test of a cargo aircraft fully loaded with sample containers. Impact velocity to be not less than 925 ft/s (282 m/s) (630 mph), unless (3) other comparably stringent tests are allowed by an independent panel. | Flight recorder ("black box") is subjected to an impact shock in the most damaging orientation. The energy content of the impact shock shall be at least that provided by a half-sine shock of 6.5 milliseconds duration and a peak acceleration of 33,354 m/s/s (3400g). [This provides an energy content equivalent to an impact of 138 m/s on an unyielding surface.] |
| Thermal Test | Cask fully engulfed (except for support system) in hydrocarbon fuel-air fire---average fuel temperature of 800 C---for 30 minutes. Fuel source from 1-3 meters (3-10 feet) past the cask in all horizontal directions, and the cask 1 meter above the fuel source. Cask allowed to cool naturally. | Same as current test, but for a duration of one hour. | Cask is exposed to luminous flames from a pool of JP-4 or JP-5 aviation fuel for at least 60 minutes. Flames extending an average of 3-10 feet past the cask in all horizontal directions. Cask positioned to result in maximum damage. Cask is then cooled naturally or by spraying water, whichever results in maximum damage. (Temperature of the fuel fire is 1,400-2,400 degrees F.) | Same as NUREG 0360. | Recorder is subjected to a fire producing a minimum thermal flux of 158 kW/square meter [Note: this is approximately 2.5 times the flux produced by the IAEA test.] The flame temperature should be 1100 degrees C at 25 mm from the recorder surface. The entire external surface area shall be exposed to the fire for a period of at least 30 minutes. [Note: According to the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel in 1995, the EUROCAE fire duration is now 60 minutes.] |
| Water Immersion Test | a) Cask is immersed under a head of water at least 15 meters for a period of at least 8 hours, at the altitude for maximum damage. Equivalent external gauge pressure is 22 psi. b) Cask is immersed under a head of water of 0.9 meters for at least 8 hours at the altitude for maximum leakage. | The package shall be immersed under a head of water of at least 200 m for a period of not less than one hour. | Immersion under at least three feet of water for at least 8 hours. | Same as NUREG 0360. | Recorder shall be immersed in sea water at a pressure equivalent to a depth of 6000 m for a period of 30 days (this may be reduced to 24 hours if the contents have been shown to be unaffected by sea water). |
| Puncture Tearing Test | Cask is dropped onto a perpendicular bar (6 inches in diameter and long enough for maximum damage) made of mild steel, from a height of one meter. | Adopts NUREG 0360 language. | If the package has a mass less than 250 kgs, a 250 kg. mild steel probe, the shape of the frustrum of a cone (12 inches long, 8 inches diameter at the base, and 1 inch diameter at the tip) is to be dropped onto the package from a height of 3 meters, striking in the position expected to result in maximum damage at the conclusion of the test sequence. For packages having a mass of 250 kg. or more, the probe is to be placed on a flat surface and the package dropped from a height of 3 meters onto the probe. | Same as NUREG 0360. | The recorder shall be subject to penetration forces produced by a 227 kg weight dropped 3 meters on its most vulnerable face. The point of contact shall be a circular steel pin with a diameter of 0.25 inches and a length of 1.57 inches. |
| Crush Test | 500 kg. flat, solid, mild steel plate (1 meter square) dropped onto the cask from 9 meters. | 500 kg. flat, solid, mild steel plate (1 meter square) dropped onto the cask from 9 meters. | Not provided. | -- | Not provided. |
| Slash Test | -- | -- | Cask to be hit near its center by the end of a structural steel angle section (at least 6 ft. in length with legs 5 inches long and 1/2 inch thick) falling from at least 150 feet. Then rotate 90 degrees and repeat. | Same as NUREG 0360. | Not provided. |
| Static Compressive Test | Unless the packaging effectively prevents stacking, the cask shall be subjected to a compressive load of the greater of a) 5 x the mass of the package, or b) (1.9 psi x the vertically projected area of the package) applied to the cask on two opposite sides, one of which shall be the base on which the package would normally rest. | Not provided. | 70,000 pounds applied to cask in the orientation expected to result in maximum damage. Force applied between flat steel surface and a straight solid steel bar. | Same as NUREG 0360. | The crash protected memory module [e.g. not protected by the main recorder assembly] shall be subjected to a static crush force or 5,000 lb for a test period of five minutes. At least four points on the module shall be tested. |
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