The new ROBATEL-NL R79 type B package design for waste transportations

Resulting of years of nuclear activities, the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) needs now to evacuate its so called 'historical' radioactive wastes that were generated all along its experiments, its material testing activities and its isotope production for medicine and industry. This miscellaneous wastes have to be first transported to Belgium to be reprocessed prior to their interim storage or final disposal. In support of these operations, ECN is required to acquire a new dedicated and suitable type B package. ROBATEL Industries has been selected by NRG to design and manufacture these casks and their associated equipment. Therefore, ROBATEL has designed a new cask model, the R79, specifically optimized for its customer's use. The cavity is adapted to the vessel used by NRG to package its wastes, and the shielding thickness (around 155 mm of lead equivalent) ensures the appropriate gamma radiation protection and an optimized weight. Thanks to this weight optimization, two casks can be shipped at a time on one trailer without exceeding the standard road transport load. The package model is still under certification but it has passed the regulatory drop tests in summer 2015. These drop tests have proven the good performances of the impact limiters made of the ROBATEL's foam FENOSOL^TM. This article will lay out in further details the major characteristics of this new design and will highlight some specific points of the safety assessments. (author)