Developing a new waste route for the transport of UK spent sealed sources for long term storage

There is an ongoing requirement to manage redundant radioactive sealed sources used in medical, educational and commercial operations. In the UK, these sealed sources are collected and consolidated by specialist agencies prior to onward transport to a Nuclear Licensed site for long term storage. Over recent years there has been a reduction in the number of suitably licensed transport packages and available storage/disposal sites in the UK. This has resulted in a backlog of temporarily stored sealed sources.In 2014 International Nuclear Services (INS) identified an opportunity to re-use an existing fleet of transport packages (1648C) that had originally been used to transfer specific Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) from Chapelcross NPP for storage at Sellafield. The re-use of the 1648C package for the transport of sealed sources directly to the Sellafield site for long term storage and disposal brings a number of safety and operational benefits to the management of redundant sealed sources in the UK.This paper describes how INS has developed a new waste route for the transport of the used sealed sources for long term storage and disposal in the UK. In particular it discusses the challenges associated with assessing the existing 1648C transport package design against the requirements of the IAEA Transport Regulations when considering such a diverse waste composition.