Reliable Transport Packaging for Radioactive Substances: Container qualifies as Type A Packaging

1. The Customer

Framatome ANP, a company which was renamed AREVA NP in April 2006, was formed as a result of a merger between the nuclear engineering activities of Framatome and Siemens Framatome. AREVA has a 66% share in the company and Siemens 34%. AREVA NP is the leading company worldwide in the design and turn-key construction of nuclear power stations and research reactors, as well as carrying out modernisation, maintenance and repair activities, electronic and control technology, heavy-duty component manufacture and the supply of fuel elements for a large number of different types of reactor. Operating from sites in France, Germany and the USA, AREVA NP has a total of around 15 000 employees located throughout the world. In the 2006 financial year a turnover of around 2.9bn Euros was achieved.

2. The Task

AREVA NP's radio-chemistry laboratory in Erlangen carries out numerous radio-chemical tests on solid as well as liquid samples on behalf of nuclear power station operators. For these tests it is also necessary to transport liquid samples which sometimes feature high levels of activity. These samples are typically decanted into 2-litre Kautex bottles. The task was to develop a container in which a maximum of 5 Kautex bottles could be safely packed once filled. By way of an alternative, the container also had to be capable of being used for the transport of solid radioactive substances. The container had to qualify as Type - A - packaging.

3. The Solution

One of the specifications of the legislation governing the shipment of liquid radioactive substances is that the packaging must have successfully passed a drop test from a height of 9 metres.
In order to meet these requirements, ZARGES decided to use a modified standard container from their BY Series. The container is already fitted as standard with a seal-welded encapsulated joint, closures with anti-spring open facility and with a silicone seal to the floor joint. The mountings for the hinge, clasps and closures were modified. Instead they were constructed using full rivets with screwed connections. In addition, an extra closure was fitted to each of the sides.

In order to ensure that the force of impact generated by the required 9m drop test does not destroy the plastic bottles, a customised application was devised using PE foam. In order to ensure optimum force absorption, work was carried out using foam of various thicknesses. In addition, using it above and below the bottles leaves sufficient space for the specified absorption material.

When choosing the absorption material care should be taken to ensure that this does not itself contain any natural radioactivity (such as, for example, K-40) if it is to be used in the transportation of radioactive substances. Otherwise, when the standard contamination checks are carried out, it will be difficult to distinguish whether any radioactivity measured is due to contamination from the transported goods or results from its natural radioactivity content. Hence synthetic absorption materials on a purely organic base are primarily suited for this application.
For transporting solid radioactive substances, the bottle insert can be removed and the PE foam lining will then ensure the necessary protection for the contents.

In addition to the drop test, the compression stacking test and the impact penetration test were conducted successfully from a height of 1.7 metres.