Radioactive waste transportation. Discussion on the specific safety issues and overview of some related answers in terms of packaging

Whatever the nuclear facilities activities (even in case of shutdown / renewal), challenges regarding waste management arise worldwide. First in matter of dismantling, reprocessing or storage of course, but also in terms of conveyance capabilities anyway. ROBATEL Industries is a nuclear turnkey services provider, especially regarding the radioactive material transportation casks. For decades it has designed various package models, type B ones especially which require regulators approvals. Based on such a broad experience, the company has acquired a comprehensive knowledge of the technical issues related to safety and to international regulations. The waste transportation issues are nowadays more and more sensitive, whatever the customers or the countries. Each case requires suitable treatment depending on both the actual nature and properties of the waste or their origins and outfalls which all induce specific constraints. Unlike other kinds of radioactive materials, the exhaustive characterization of waste is difficult and mostly constitutes the first challenge to overcome: it is the key point for the start of both the package design and the related safety analyses. The way the characterization is approached usually determines the following suitable methods and assumptions that may be implemented to demonstrate the package compliance with regulatory requirements. Through its recent package designs (from R73 (2006) to R79 (2016)), ROBATEL Industries presents its 10 years expertise feedback regarding the design and the safety assessments of packages dedicated to various waste types by focusing on an overview of the main related technical issues. (author)