Large Component Regulatory Relief in the United States

Beginning in the mid-1990s, after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) adopted the 1985 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) radioactive material transportation regulations domestically, organizations with nuclear power stations and test facilities began to find it increasingly necessary to transport large radioactive components for disposal purposes. The transportation needs arose due to the retirement and dismantlement of some facilities, as well as component degradation requiring replacement to provide for continued operation at other facilities. The dismantling of retired nuclear power and test facilities required the transport of reactor vessels, reactor vessel heads, pressurizers, reactor coolant pumps, and steam generators; whereas the replacement of degraded components to continue operations has been generally limited to pressurized water reactor steam generators, and more recently, reactor heads. These components are quite large and massive, measuring up to 20 feet in diameter and 70 feet in length and weighing 50 to 600 tons.