The Off-Site Source Recovery Program's Special Form Capsule: Making Radioactive Material Sealed Sources Easier and Safer to Ship

The Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP) is a U.S. Government activity sponsored by the NNSA’s Office of Global Material Security to remove excess, unwanted, abandoned, or orphaned radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to national security, health, and safety. Shipping radioactive sealed sources can be incredibly difficult: they can be contaminated or special form status may have expired, causing the cost of the shipment to greatly increase or, in some cases, eliminating the ability to ship the sources altogether. Encapsulating radioactive sealed sources in a Special Form Capsule (SFC) can resolve many of these problems. However, because OSRP visits numerous sites under a variety of working conditions, a field-sealable SFC that can be closed without power tools or any specialty equipment was needed. Expanding on previous efforts, OSRP perfected an SFC that can be closed by hand with simple tools. Once closed, the capsules can be shipped under special form limits rather than the much more conservative normal form limits. There are currently six different capsules that vary in width and depth, giving users a choice of how best to encapsulate their radioactive sealed sources. These capsules have successfully been used in the field for over 15 years, allowing OSRP to ship thousands of sources around the world safely and securely. The paper will detail the history of these capsules from design, testing, and certification of the various models, and other designs that are currently being pursued.