MANUFACTURE OF A LARGE TYPE B SHIPPING CONTAINER

The MD-2 Shipping Container was designed, developed, and certified by the Y-12 National Security Complex. This container will support the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) fissile materials disposition programs for the next 20 years. This container was designed in 2006 and certified by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in 2009. A contract to manufacture MD-2s was awarded in 2011 to Major Tool and Machine, Inc. of Indianapolis, IN, USA. Fabrication began in late 2011 and the first articles of the major safety component, the Containment Vessel, were completed in December 2012. First articles of the Confinement Boundary (drum assembly) were completed in March 2013. Following extensive inspection of the first articles, the manufacturer was released to produce over 200 of these containers. The shipping container has an important role in the surplus Pu Disposition and MOX Programs. It was specifically designed to ship surplus items for conversion to MOX fuel. Implementation of this container will occur in several sites in the DOE complex to support this mission. As this container has a relatively large inner Containment Vessel, and is a qualified Type B container, it can be used for many other applications. This paper discusses the detailed status of the current container fabrication. It also provides detailed design descriptions and dimensions of the container for those organizations who may wish to use the MD-2 for other material shipments.