Radiological sources are found worldwide for beneficial uses in medical and industrial applications. Sources will eventually decay to a point (i.e., end of useful life) where they are no longer usable for intended purposes, after which they need to be removed, stored, transported, and disposed in a licensed waste facility. If lost or not properly controlled, disused sources can be a threat to public health and safety, and therefore the end-of-life management of disused sources is a worldwide concern. Lack of control and oversight can and do lead to sources ending up in the wrong place, and there have been many publicized events during which sources were lost or stolen, resulting in serious injuries and death to unsuspecting members of the public, and massive economic loss, particularly over concerns of potential malicious use by terrorists as radiological dispersion devices. Lack of availability of Type B containers, one of the factors contributing to the problem of improper disposal, is a barrier to the end-of-life management of disused sources. We are developing a compact Type B packaging for U.S. DOE, designated as Model 9602 that provides a unique and holistic solution for the end-of-life management of disused sources, i.e. it can be used for transportation, interim storage, subsequent transportation for final disposal, without repackaging of the disused sources. The packaging design has a high thermal rating, excellent shielding, and versatile basket designs, which can accommodate a wide range of radiological sources of different physical and chemical forms. Furthermore, the all-stainless-steel components of the packaging design will provide an excellent protection against general corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking during long-term storage. We have conducted engineering structural, thermal, and shielding analyses for the packaging design containing CsCl capsules with a decay heat up to 1000W, and found that the packaging design meets the safety requirements of 10 CFR Part 71, the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, and other industry consensus standards, such as ANSI N14.5. A prototypic 9602 packaging is being built for evaluation and physical testing, and a Safety Analysis Report for Packaging (SARP) is being developed for DOE technical review and certification.
Year
2020
Abstract