Development of the SWTC Type B Transport Package

Abstract

The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has a strategic need to develop a transport package capable of carrying Low Heat Generating Waste (LHGW) from 16 UK waste-producing sites to potential future treatment, consolidated storage or final disposal facilities. To meet this strategic need and minimise the number of different transport packages, Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) are developing a single design that can accommodate six different waste container types. This design of transport package is referred to as the Standard Waste Transport Container (SWTC-255). Once developed, the package would provide flexibility to be used for a significant range of domestic and potential international applications.

The paper will outline the approach taken by NTS to manage the development of the SWTC-255 and highlight some challenges faced when developing a transport package to meet competing sets of modal restrictions (rail gauge, Gross Laden Weight, handling plant restrictions). It will describe the main use cases and waste container types that the transport package is being developed to accommodate and how the key stakeholders from multiple organisations have been engaged. The paper will describe, through an iterative approach, how the SWTC-255 has progressed from an initial concept to substantiated preliminary design. It will also highlight the difficulties of achieving the IAEA SSR-6 Accident Conditions of Transport (ACT) performance requirements within one of the UKs most restrictive rail gauges envelopes.

Reference will also be made to the use of NTS’s Technical Readiness Level (TRL) process that has been specifically developed for Radioactive Material (RAM) transport package design. Here it will show how TRL assessments were used to measure the maturity of SWTC-255 design, identify technical risks, and then mitigate these risks through future design phases.