Regulatory Testing of a Type B Shipping Container for NCT and HAC

The safe transportation of radioactive material using appropriately designed and certified transportation packages is important to protect the public, contents, and environment. In the United States, all commercial transportation of radioactive material (Class 7 hazardous material) is regulated by the US Department of Transportation and US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There are four basic types of packaging for Class 7 materials: Industrial, Type A, Type B, and Type C. Each packaging type must meet performance-based regulations to be certified for use in the transport of radioactive materials.Packages used for the transportation of Type B quantities of radioactive materials must be capable of meeting normal conditions of transportation (NCT) requirements and hypothetical accident condition (HAC) requirements as defined in Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 (10 CFR 71).  Evaluation of package designs against these criteria typically involves a combination of analysis and physical testing. Required tests include free drop, crush, puncture, penetration, compression, vibration, water spray, water immersion, and thermal. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Packaging Evaluation Facility at the National Transportation Research Center (NTRC) provides an inclusive testing capability for a wide variety of packages needed for shipment of radioactive materials.This paper describes the preparation, regulatory testing, and posttest evaluation of a Type B shipping package tested to the 10 CFR 71.71 and 10 CFR 71.73 requirements. The package’s response when subjected to the HAC sequence of free drop, crush, puncture, and thermal tests according to 10 CFR 71.73(c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(3) and (c)(4) was of interest in certifying the package for use in transporting radioactive material. The free drop, crush, and puncture tests were performed at the NTRC in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the thermal tests were performed at Latrobe Specialty Steel in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The test units were subjected to pre-operational leak testing before the NCT and HAC tests were implemented, as well as a post-operational leak testing and helium leak testing once regulatory testing was complete.