Needs assessment activity report: April 1995

As part of a US Department of Energy Headquarters task (DOE-HQ), the Packaging Operations and Development Group within Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) has assessed the packaging needs of many DOE sites. These assessments have involved site visits and meetings with personnel involved with transportation and packaging of hazardous materials. By March 1995, 20 DOE facilities had been visited. As a result, these sites been informed of some of the packaging activities that DOE has sponsored and is sponsoring, have been apprised of the affects of upcoming changes to transportation regulations, have discussed their short-term packaging needs, and have shared unique packaging they have developed which may be of use to other DOE facilities. Program successes include discovery of a need for a reusable Type A liquid sample packaging and its development within another DOE task, establishing communications pathways between DOE sites that have similar transportation and packaging needs, and starting to establish a centralized packaging clearinghouse that will coordinate DOE Complex needs and improve the cost-effectiveness of transportation and packaging activities