US-based NAC International has received US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certification for NAC’s highly shielded version of its versatile OPTIMUS (OPTImal Modular Universal Shipping) transport packaging system.
This new certificate for OPTIMUS-H follows licensing approvals obtained under Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) certification and associated certification in Australia. Previously, the lightweight version of the OPTIMUS system, OPTIMUS-L, received NRC and CNSC certification. NAC has already deployed a fleet of OPTIMUS systems to support various North American packaging and transportation projects.
The OPTIMUS system was developed to provide an adaptable, efficient and economical alternative to non-typical radioactive materials transportation campaigns commonly conducted using larger less efficient transport casks. NAC says that, together, the two OPTIMUS models accommodate a wide range of contents to support customer packaging requirements in the US, Canada, and internationally. NAC unveiled its first OPTIMUS to the public at the Waste Management Symposium 2020 in Phoenix. Since then, NAC has delivered 22 OPTIMUS-L and nine OPTIMUS-H systems to support North American packaging and transportation projects.
“This milestone OPTIMUS-H certification in the US expands packaging options for US commercial customers and government programmes seeking more versatile and lower-cost solutions to transport nuclear materials safely and efficiently,” said NAC President & CEO Kent Cole. “The small size, modular packaging options, and greater adaptability of the OPTIMUS transportation packaging systems provide economical choices for transporting a wide variety of waste materials that until now were considered orphaned and stranded wastes. Both the OPTIMUS-L and OPTIMUS-H packaging systems are now licensed in the US and Canada and deployed commercially.
The OPTIMUS-L packaging is designed and licensed for contact handled-transuranic waste (TRU), low and intermediate-level solid wastes, low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel wastes, high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) TRISO fuel, and other low activity contents. The OPTIMUS-H model is a highly shielded version that relies on a 7-inch-thick ductile cast iron outer shield vessel to provide sufficient shielding for a broader range of contents, including Class B and C waste, Greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) waste, remotely handled-TRU waste, used nuclear fuel, and other intermediate-level and high-level waste.
Both the L and H versions rely on the same containment vessel design, enabling an integrated waste management approach that leverages standardisation for packaging and shipment of a range of materials that can be tailored for each project. For example, OPTIMUS systems are ideal for shipping TRU waste between smaller sites to support waste consolidation efforts to improve the efficiency of shipments to the US Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In Canada, the OPTIMUS-H has been deployed to support a major Candu used fuel transportation campaign.
The packaging certificate can be amended in the future to include new contents to support Department of Energy Environmental Management projects, R&D of advanced reactor fuels and generated waste forms, and other nuclear materials derived from nuclear production processes and decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities.
