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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
	Office of Public Affairs	Telephone: 301/415-8200
	Washington, DC 20555-001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

No. 98-197

October 30, 1998

NRC ISSUES CERTIFICATE TO GENERAL ATOMICS
FOR TRANSPORTATION CASK FOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a certificate of compliance to General Atomics of San Diego, California, for a shipping cask to carry spent fuel from nuclear reactors.

Known as the GA-4 Legal Weight Truck Spent Fuel Shipping Cask, it is designed to transport a variety of pressurized-water-reactor fuel types. The GA-4 can transport up to four irradiated spent fuel assemblies, each holding from 176 to 208 fuel rods from 128 to 145 inches long.

The cask, constructed primarily of stainless steel, is about 188 inches long and 40 inches in diameter. The maximum weight of the cask, with contents, is 27 tons. Since it is a legal-weight truck cask, under regulations of the Department of Transportation, it can travel on any highway in the United States.

Issuance of the certificate of compliance constitutes authority for the GA-4 to be used by nuclear reactor licensees to ship spent fuel, as long as the shipment follows other applicable regulations of the NRC and of the Department of Transportation.