Design of a small type B package for the shipment of radioactive gas

Sandia National Laboratories has completed the design and is now fabricating packagings for shipment of tritium gas in conformance with United States Department of Energy (US DOE) Order 5610.1. The packaging, referred to as the AL-SX, is quite unique in that its contents are a radioactive gas, and a large margin of safety has been demonstrated through overtesting. The AL-SX is small, 42 cm (16.5 in.) in diameter and 55 cm (21.5 in.) tall, as illustrated in Figure 1, and weighs between 55 kg (121 lb) empty and up to a maximum of 60 kg (132 lb) with contents and is designed for a 20-year service life. This paper describes the design of the AL-SX and certification testing performed on AL-SX packagings and discusses containment of tritium and AL-SX manufacturing considerations. (J.P.N.)