Overview of the DOE Packaging Review Guide and the Review Process*

The Department of Energy (DOE) has established procedures for obtaining certification of packagings used by DOE and its contractors for the transport of radioactive materials. These certification procedures have been established in DOE 5480.3 to ensure that DOE packaging designs and operations meet safety criteria at least equivalent to the standards prescribed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certification process for packaging (10 CFR 71, \"Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials\"). DOE 1540.2 specifies administrative procedures to use when applying for the certification and use of packaging. To obtain a Certificate of Compliance for packaging, Chapter 11.2 of DOE 1540.2 requires that a Safety Analysis Report for Packaging (SARP) be prepared to demonstrate that the packaging design, manufacture, operations, and quality assurance meet DOE safety criteria. The SARP must then be submitted to the Packaging Certification Staff (PCS) in the Office of Security Evaluations for review and approval. The Packaging Review Guide (PRG) (Fischer 1988) was developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to provide guidance to the PCS in reviewing SARPs. This paper presents an overview of the PRG, the review process, and the Shipping Cask Analysis System (SCANS) computer program (Gerhard 1989) that is used in the review process for doing confirmatory analyses.