Early tests of drum type packagings – the Lewallen report

Abstract

The need for robust packagings for radioactive materials (RAM) was recognised from the earliest days of the nuclear industry. The US Department of Energy Rocky Flats Plant developed a packaging for shipment of plutonium in the early 1960s, which became the US Department of Transportation 6M specification package. The design concepts were employed in other early packagings. Extensive tests of these at Savannah River Laboratory (now Savannah River National Laboratory) were performed in 1969 and 1970. The results of these tests were reported in ‘Drum and board-type insulation overpacks of shipping packages for radioactive materials’, by E. E. Lewallen. The Lewallen report was foundational to design of subsequent drum type RAM packaging. This paper summarises this important early study of drum type packagings for the historical record.

Keywords:

• Drum packages
• Overpack materials
• Structural testing
• Thermal testing
• Celotex

This document was prepared in conjunction with work accomplished under contract no. DE-AC09-08SR22470 with the US Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.