The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a certificate of compliance for a spent fuel shipping cask designed by San Diego based General Atomics. The GA-4 legal weight truck spent fuel shipping cask is designed to transport up to four spent PWR fuel assemblies, each holding between 176 and 208 fuel rods.

As a legal-weight truck cask, it can travel on any highway in the USA. The certificate constitutes authority for any nuclear reactor licensee to use the GA-4 to ship spent fuel.

According to Alan Zimmer, project manager responsible for the GA-4 licensing effort, cask production will begin as soon as an interim or permanent storage facility is approved by the US DOE.