Packaging Research

When transporting radioactive or hazardous materials, safety and security are top priorities. Packaging and transportation regulations require demonstration that packages pass rigorous performance tests to ensure that the public and the environment are protected from the hazardous nature of the cargo. The Packaging Research Facility (PRF) develops and evaluates shipment solutions—ensuring that they are safe, efficient, and meet regulatory requirements. PRF’s research staff possesses the broad range of expertise and equipment needed to support all phases of the development and deployment of safe and secure transportation systems.

Research Focus

PRF researchers are involved in the development and application of standards and tools for packaging design. Researchers have experience evaluating all types of radioactive material packages, from small drum-like packages weighing less than 500 lbs to spent fuel casks that weigh 25 tons or more. PRF provides technical support for shipment preparation, risk assessment, and logistics. PRF staff is also involved in the analysis and evaluation of infrastructure, logistics, and supply chain management strategies, including the evaluation and application of U.S. and international transportation regulations and compliance requirements.

Expertise

Researchers at PRF have core capabilities in packaging design, testing, and certification assurance; shipment preparation and planning, including regulatory compliance, logistics and risk assessment; package certi€cation assurance; and software development supporting transportation safety and security requirements.

Packaging design capabilities include nuclear analysis, evaluating the criticality, thermal, shielding, and source term of radioactive material packages and shipping casks; and structural analysis, in which the structural aspects of packages are modeled for use in simulated hypothetical accidents. These models and simulations are used to evaluate package designs prior to certification testing. PRF staff design customized package testing programs to assist customers in meeting package design and certification needs for commercial applications, UN Performance Oriented Packages, and radioactive materials packages (IP, Type A, Type B, and Fissile). PRF staff is experienced in the preparation and review of Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging (SARP), and interaction with Federal certifying officials to obtain required approvals.

Capabilities in shipment preparation and planning include assistance in ensuring regulatory compliance, route planning, risk assessment, freight rate negotiation and analysis, all areas of facility interface and equipment requirements, tie down evaluation and design, and interfacing of vehicle designs and packaging. PRF staff develops, evaluates and applies U.S. and international transportation regulations and compliance requirements. They are experienced in the application of hazardous materials requirements for all transportation classes and modes, as well as Nuclear Regulatory Commission NUREG guidance including performance of NRC-accepted package performance tests and analysis. They have developed routing databases and models for rail and road and can provide optimized logistical solutions, model logistics costs, and provide risk assessments for use as inputs to National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) documentation.

PRF researchers have developed a number of software packages to support secure transportation needs. TRAGIS (Transportation Routing Analysis Geographic Information System) is a routing analysis tool that combines graphical interfaces with an extensive highway, rail and waterway database. TRANSCOST, a transportation costing model, is used to estimate the transportation- and shipping-related costs for shipping campaigns. HaMTES (Hazardous Materials Transportation Expert System) provides application of U.S. regulations pertaining to the transportation of hazardous and radioactive materials.

R&D Facilities

PRF drop testing facilities comprise a large outdoor impact pad with a 30-ft drop height for package prototypes or scale models weighing up to 28,000 lbs; a smaller indoor impact pad with a 15-ft drop height for units weighing up to 3,000 lbs; and a precision drop tester for small packages (loads up to 125 lbs). An additional outdoor drop test pad with a 50,000-lb capacity is available at the ORNL main campus.

PRF has other equipment and capabilities for evaluating packages and simulating possible transportation circumstances:

• Lansmont Model 10000-10 Touch Test Vibration System (1-500 Hz vibration table with a 10,000 lb capacity) for simulation of vibration forces during transportation
• Lansmont Model 152-30K Compression Tester (30,000 lbs compressive force) for compression/stacking tests simulating the stacking of containers
• Steel punches designed to regulatory specifications for puncture testing
• 72-channel thermal monitor data acquisition system and Type K thermocouples
• Diagnostic measuring devices traceable to national performance and quality standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Crush testing by dropping a 500-kg weight from 30 feet onto a package
• Leak tests performed using either pressure drop (CALT8) or helium (Varian) equipment
• Rapid dismantling of test pieces to analyze the behavior of internal crushable structures
• High speed filming of tests with available overnight developing
• X-ray analysis
• Internal and external measurements of package size and deformation

Partnerships and Collaborations

The NTRC PRF staff provides assistance to, and collaborates with, many Federal and industry customers. Current and recent collaborations include National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex, Framatome Cogema Fuels, Savannah River National Laboratory, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Department
of Transportation.