Effects of mixed waste simulants on transportation packaging plastic components

The purpose of hazardous and radioactive materials packaging is to, enable these materials to be transported without posing a threat to the health or property of the general public. To achieve this aim, regulations have been written establishing general design requirements for such packagings. While no regulations have been written specifically for mixed waste packaging, regulations for the constituents of mixed wastes, i.e., hazardous and radioactive substances, have been codified. The design requirements for both hazardous and radioactive materials packaging specify packaging compatibility, i.e., that the materials of the packaging and any contents be chemically compatible with each other. Furthermore, Type A and Type B packaging design requirements stipulate that there be no significant chemical, galvanic, or other reaction between the materials and contents of the package. Based on these requirements, a Chemical Compatibility Testing Program was developed in the Transportation Systems Department at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The program, supported by the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Transportation Management Division, EM-261 provides the means to assure any regulatory body that the issue of packaging material compatibility towards hazardous and radioactive materials has been addressed. In this paper, we describe the general elements of the testing program and the experimental results of the screening tests. The implications of the results of this testing are discussed in the general context of packaging development. Additionally, we present the results of the first phase of this experimental program. This phase involved the screening of five candidate liner and six seal materials against four simulant mixed wastes