Year
2016
File Attachment
F5045.pdf615.72 KB
Abstract
The Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP), sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security (ORS), is a U.S. Government activity managed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory. OSRP’s mission is to remove excess, unwanted, abandoned, or orphan radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to public health, safety, and national security. To date, OSRP has recovered more than 250 large selfshielded devices, some of which were as old as 60 years.There are a variety of transportation challenges associated with the age of the devices. The average age of the devices recovered is 32 years while the oldest is more than 60 years old. In many cases, the original means of transportation is no longer viable due to changes in the regulations for the transportation of radioactive material. In a few cases, the devices were originally transported before the introduction of the first edition of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Series No. 6. In many cases, the devices are no longer supported by the original manufacturer and the original transport packages are no longer available. Additionally, questions about structural integrity due to age and or questionable storage locations in addition to missing documentation about device construction, shielding details, authorized source contents required for transport can pose a transportation problem for older devices.In order to overcome some of the challenges discussed, two new packages have been designed to transport self-shielded devices. The LANL 435-B is an unshielded package that can transport a variety of different self-shielded devices. The LANL 380-B is a shielded package that is intended to transport devices that might be damaged or whose integrity cannot be confirmed. The features of these packages and how they help overcome some of the challenges will be discussed.