The Development of a Robust Shielded Box Transport Container

In recent years, a number of the organisations responsible for managing the clean-up of the UK’s nuclear sites have adopted the use of Robust Shielded Boxes (RSBs) for the packaging of higher activity waste (HAW). RSBs are thick-walled, ductile cast iron containers with a gross mass of up to 35 tonnes. They do not require remote handling and can use unshielded, personnel-accessible stores. To have confidence that waste packaged in RSBs could, in the future, be disposed of at a geological disposal facility (GDF), a key factor is the feasibility of transporting the packages through the public domain. While some RSB designs are suitable for transport as IP-2 packages in their own right, a reusable Type B(U) transport container for RSBs would offer benefits to waste packagers by enabling the packaging of more active wastes, allowing greater flexibility in waste management strategies. This could include supporting the implementation of a consolidated store strategy, or avoiding the need to repackage certain wastes following interim storage. Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) has developed a conceptual design for a Robust Shielded Box Transport Container (RSBTC), using a requirements-led approach. The first step was to identify the requirements that the design of an RSBTC would need to satisfy in order to represent a feasible solution for waste packagers and for RWM as the developer and future operator of a GDF, providing a clear framework for the subsequent design development. This paper discusses the need for an RSBTC in the UK and its potential applications, setting out the key requirements and constraints that the design of an RSBTC needs to satisfy. It describes the significant challenges that arise from the large size and mass of RSBs coupled with the dimensional and mass constraints to enable transport on the UK rail network. Two further papers relating to the RSBTC are also proposed for PATRAM 2019 - one discusses the design aspects of the development, the other focuses specifically on the structural design and analyses to demonstrate the impact performance of the container, including the innovative double spigot arrangement and the design of the impact limiting system.