The transactive-20 container for transporting large volumes of intermediate level waste

Abstract

Transactive-20 is approved for transporting large quantities of intermediate level radioactive waste (ILW) to Type B (U) F standards by road, rail or sea. The container was designed to ISO standards for handling and transport and is approximately 6 m long × 2.4 m wide × 2.6 m high. Its cavity is provided by a tubular stainless steel pressure vessel, 5.5 m long and 1.9 m in diameter, that enables great flexibility in payload type; for example, up to 30 standard 227 litre drums of contact handled ILW (CHILW); up to five 500 litre drums of CHILW; and multiple packages of remote handled ILW (RHILW). A variety of other waste types, such as pallets of bulk items, glovebox waste or drums of radioactive liquid, can be accommodated if suitable internal furniture is developed and approved. The maximum gross payload is 6.5 tonnes, which is equivalent in practice to about 4 tonnes of CHILW, and the package is approved for transporting up to 3 kg of fissile material. This article describes the design and operation of Transactive-20 and the authors' experience of transporting plutonium contaminated material (PCM) between UKAEA's Winfrith and Harwell sites. It also outlines plans to use the container for remote handled ILW (RHILW), such as spent ⁶⁰CO or ¹³⁷Cs medical irradiators.