Plutonium air transportable package development using metallic filaments and composite materials

A new design concept for plutonium air transport packagings has been developed by the Transportation Systems Department and modeled by the Engineering Mechanics and Material Modeling Department at Sandia National laboratories. The new concept resulted from an in-depth review of existing package design philosophies and limitations. This new design concept uses a very robust primary containment vessel with elastomeric seals for protection and confinement of an inner containment vessel with contents. An overpack consisting of multiple layers of plastically-deformable metallic wire mesh and high-tensile strength materials is placed around the containment vessels to provide energy absorption for the primary containment vessel as well as thermal protection. The use of intermittent layers with high-tensile strength results in a limiter which remains in place during accidental impact events and can be relied upon to provide subsequent puncture and fire protection. In addition, an outer shell around the energy absorbing material is provided for handling and weather protection. Scoping tests were performed on material samples, wall sections, and partially modeled prototypes. To evaluate various design features, finite element analyses were performed on the package