The Development of the Russian Fissile Material and U.S. Pit Containers

Sandia National Laboratories has developed two container designs for the storage and transportation of radioactive materials resulting from weapons dismantlement. Each of these packages was designed to perform under similar conditions and to prevent release of contents under comparable accident conditions. There are contents specific requirements that led to differences in the final design, though the overall protection of contents is similar. The U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency directed the development of the Russian Fissile Material Container. This program is an integral part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program. The goal of the container program is to provide a minimum of 10,000 containers. Sandia was responsible for the design and testing of the containers. The U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency is responsible for the production of containers.