THE PACKAGING AND TRANSPORATION OF FUTURIX-FTA FUEL PINS

The Futurix project is an international collaboration program between the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA). The project deals with irradiation test of experimental fuels to be conducted in the Phenix Reactor located at the CEA-Marcoule site near Avignon, France. This paper describes the process for shipment of unirradiated plutonium based fuel pins from the Idaho National Laboratory to the Phenix Reactor utilizing a French licensed transport package; TN-BGC 1. This type of knowledge and experience is vital to the shipment of both fuel and radioactive waste material.