Packaging and Transportation
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) packaging and transportation mission is to
(1) develop the systems and technologies to ensure packaging and transportation
activities are safe, economical, efficient, secure, and meet applicable regulatory requirements;
(2) resolve packaging and transportation issues safely, economically, and promptly; and
(3) develop, manage and coordinate policies and procedures for packaging and
transportation activities for DOE materials, including hazardous materials
(particularly radioactive), substances and wastes.
Radiological shipments are accomplished safely. Annually, about 400 million hazardous materials shipments occur in the United States by rail, air, sea, and land.
Of these shipments, about three million are radiological shipments. The DOE Office of Environmental Management has successfully transported over 81,000 hazardous waste
shipments in the past five years (2004 – 2008).
Programs Supporting Safe Transportation of Radiological Shipments
- Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program
TEPP provides the tools for planning, training and exercises, and technical assistance to assist State and Tribal authorities in preparing for
response to a transportation incident involving DOE shipments of radioactive material.
-
Packaging Certification Program (Fissile and Type B Packagings)
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, gives DOE broad authorities to regulate all
aspects of activities involving radioactive materials that are undertaken by DOE or on
its behalf, including transportation. The DOE manages a program for certification of
fissile and Type B packagings which conform with U.S. Department of Transportation and
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements. For additional information about the
DOE Packaging Certification Program, visit the
Radioactive Material Packaging (RAMPAC)
website. The program includes the following:
- providing guidance for preparing Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging,
- reviewing and approving packaging designs,
- issuing DOE Certificates of Compliance
- reviewing and recertifying Certificates of Compliance
- curtailing and suspending the use of specific packages, when warranted; and
- reviewing and approving quality assurance programs for Type B and fissile materials radioactive
materials packagings.
The Packaging Certification Program conducts routine training for radioactive packaging activities related to Safety Analysis Report for Packagings preparation, and packaging quality assurance,
maintenance and operations.
-
Packaging and Transportation Operations
DOE successfully completes thousands of shipments each year.
The shipments have included a variety of waste types (e.g., transuranic waste
, low-level waste
,
mixed low-level waste
,
spent nuclear fuel
) primarily by highway and rail. Under DOE, the
National
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
safely and securely transports nuclear weapons,
weapons components, and special nuclear material to meet projected NNSA, Department of Defense,
and other customer requirements.
- Fact Sheets
- TRANSCOM
an unclassified tracking
and communication system which can monitor the progress of various "high visibility"
shipments. Since September 2001, TRANSCOM has been used to monitor over 12,000
DOE high visibility shipments.
- DOE UN Packaging: Types of packaging approved by the United Nations and DOE for use in transporting hazardous materials and hazardous substances.
- RADCALC
- Permits registered users to
access transportation and packaging software applications.
- RADTRAN
: Computer code used to
conduct transportation risk assessment for radioactive material.
- TRAGIS
Transportation Routing Analysis Geographic Information System.
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FEATURED ITEMS
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