| PACKAGING
RESEARCH FACILITY |
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 NTRC's
Packaging Research Facility is operated by the Transportation Technologies
Group (TTG) of the ORNL Nuclear Science and Technology Division. The TTG
helps clients develop safe, efficient, economical solutions for the shipment
of hazardous and high-value materials. Our staff can provide hardware
and software development, analysis, planning, and project management to
meet the needs of the customer.
We provide
packaging and transportation capabilities: regulatory compliance; packaging
design and testing; campaign planning; shipment preparation; logistics;
modeling; risk assessment; package certification assurance; and software
development.
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Regulatory
Compliance
- Development
and application of U.S. and international transportation requirements
- Application
of hazardous materials requirements for all classes and modes of transport
- Application
of Nuclear Regulatory Commission NUREG guidance and performance of NRC-accepted
package performance tests and analysis
- Logistics
management and regulatory compliance
- Evaluation
of operational compliance with regulations
- Quality
assurance process assessment and evaluation
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Packaging
Design
Nuclear
Analysis
- Application
of the ORNL-developed Standardized Computer Analysis for Licensing Evaluation
(SCALE) code system, including tools and methods used to evaluate the
criticality, thermal, shielding, and source term of radioactive material
packages and shipping casks
Structural
Analysis
- Modeling
of the structural aspects of packages
- Simulation
of hypothetical accident conditions using models to evaluate package
designs in advance of prototype fabrication and testing
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Package
Testing
- Customized
testing programs to assist customers in meeting their package design
and certification needs:
- Commercial
- UN
Performance Oriented Packages
- Radioactive
materials (IP, Type A, Type B and Fissile)
- Drop
testing of packages weighing from 100 to 20,000 lb (45 to 9,072 kg)
- Rapid
dismantling of test pieces to analyze behavior of internal and crushable
structures
- Puncture
testing of packages weighing up to 20,000 lb
- Crush
testing by dropping a 500-kg weight from 30 ft onto a package
- Penetration
tests and compression/stacking tests
- High-speed
filming of tests with overnight developing service available
- Vibration
recordings
- Post-test
analysis capabilities using the latest software
- X-ray
analysis
- Liquid
penetrant analysis
- Internal
and external measurements of packaging size and deformation
| Testing equipment |
| 60-ton
capacity concrete and steel pad with a 3.4 by 3 m surface area (at
ORNL Site)
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| 10-ton
capacity impact pad with a steel impact surface 20 ft long and 8 ft
wide, capable of testing packages weighing up to 10 tons (at NTRC)
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| Vibration
table with 5,000 lb capacity, 1-500 Hz |
| Indoor
drop test pad with 4 by 6 ft surface area, 15-ft drop height, 2000
lb capacity |
| Steel
punches designed to regulatory specifications for puncture testing
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Leak test equipment
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Burst tester (Cady)
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| Compression
tester, 30,000 lb force capacity |
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Diagnostic measuring devices traceable to national performance and
quality standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology |
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Planning
- All areas
of facility interface and equipment requirements, particularly for nuclear
materials
- Interfacing
of packaging and vehicle designs
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Shipment
Preparation
- Campaign
or shipment planning
- Assistance
in ensuring compliance with packaging and shipping regulations
- Route
planning
- Tie down
evaluation and design
- Risk assessment
- Transportation
and logistics planning, including controversial and high-visibility
shipments
- Management
and support of complex-wide transportation and package issues
- Freight
rate negotiation and analysis
- Evaluation
of HAZMAT transportation and logistics processes
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Logistics,
Modeling, and Risk Assessment
- Development
of DOD and DOE routing databases and routing models for rail and road
- Analysis
of shipment campaign planning, including:
- Transportation
risk assessments as inputs to National Environmental Protection
Act (NEPA) documentation, including use of RADTRAN code to assess
transportation risks for radioactive materials
- Evaluation
and modeling of logistics costs for DOE shipment campaigns
- Development
of optimized approaches to logistical problem
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Package
Certification Assurance
- Preparation
of Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging and interaction with federal
certifying officials to obtain required approvals
- Specialized
expertise with HAZMAT transportation and packaging
- Analysis
and evaluation of transportation safety data
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Software
Development
- TRAGIS
Transportation
Routing Analysis Geographic Information System - routing analysis tool
that combines graphical interfaces with an extensive highway, rail,
and waterway database. TRAGIS operates over the Internet and can supply
users with a variety of information about routes. (Similar models include
HIGHWAY and INTERLINE.)
- TRANSCOST
Transportation costing model that can be used to estimate the transportation-
and shipping-related costs for shipping campaigns.
- CDSS
Campaign Decision Support System - provides users with that capability
to optimize shipment campaigns. Optimization can be achieved for cost
or schedule, including consideration of constraints and shared resources
(such as a limited number of packages).
- HaMTES
Hazardous Materials Transportation Expert System-provides application
of US regulations pertaining to the transportation of hazardous and
radioactive material
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For more
information
For more
detailed information about the Packaging Research Facility and our R&D;
program, see the Transportation
Technologies Group website.
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Contact:
Scott Ludwig
Phone: 865-574-7916
Fax: 865-574-3431
Email: ludwigsb@ornl.gov
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