Certification of a radioactive materials shipping container under USDOT Specification 7A, General Packaging, Type A (49CFR178.350)

A containment system for shipping Type A quantities of solid or liquid radioactive material in normal or special form has been designed and tested for certification as a USDOT Type A, Specification 7A container. The purpose of this paper is to describe to the research reactor community the advantages of this type of radioactive material shipping container, to present the extensive testing program which was performed to certify the container and to document the specific US Department of Transportation regulations which dictate the certification requirements. The specific advantages of the shipping container described in this paper are that it is inexpensive, constructed from readily available materials and it has proven to be well suited for shipping the types of irradiated samples which are generated at research reactor facilities such as the OSU TRIGA Reactor. The containment system consists of the primary container, a 404 x 700 steel can, an outer container, a one gallon steel paint can and a cardboard box for convenient labeling. The only major piece of equipment which is required to use this system is a canning machine for sealing the inner steel can. The results of the container system design and testing program are presented. Themore » twenty two design requirements from 49 CFR 173.411 and the nine environmental and test conditions from 49 CFR 173.465 and 49 CFR 173.466 are addressed in the testing program. The containment system was shown to be capable of preventing the loss or dispersal of radioactive contents as well as preventing any increase in radiation levels at the exterior surfaces. The details of test documentation are also presented. (author)« less