Savannah River Site Hosts DOE Packaging Certification Program Course

AIKEN, S.C. — Contractors supporting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) hosted the Department's Packaging Certification Program, delivering a cutting-edge course in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The weeklong course, "Use of Certified Type B and Fissile Packages," was hosted by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Packaging & Transportation Engineering and Savannah River National Laboratory’s (SRNL) Packaging Technology group. Type B and fissile packages are highly engineered shipping containers certified to transport high quantities of radioactive and fissile materials.

The course attracted experts from the SRS and SRNL workforce as well as Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Idaho national laboratories, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Safe packaging and transportation of materials is critical to the success of DOE operations. EM's Office of Packaging & Transportation manages the Packaging Certification Program. The office supports field sites in achieving safe transportation through development and management of policy, oversight programs, automated tools and collaborative forums.

In addition to offering routine training for radioactive packaging activities, the Packaging Certification Program provides guidance for preparing safety analysis reports for packaging; reviews and approves packaging designs; issues DOE certificates of compliance; curtails and suspends use of specific packages, when warranted; and reviews and approves quality assurance programs for Type B and fissile materials packaging.

SRS Transportation Safety Basis Regulatory Authority Andrew Escobar was instrumental in bringing the program to SRS. He discussed the advantages of offering this training locally, addressing key needs for waste packaging users in areas like packaging and transportation procedure development, content evaluation and hands-on exercises.

“Since May 2023, I’ve been in talks with Los Alamos to bring this valuable training to SRS personnel, a strategic move to help decentralize expertise and reduce travel costs,” Escobar said. “This course not only advances our technical capabilities at SRS but also reinforces the site's commitment to cost effective solutions, employee retention and collaborative progress within the greater DOE complex.”

By conducting the training at SRS, the course provided attendees with practical experience through exercises at locations such as SRNL’s Packaging Test Facility.

“The course brought together various stakeholders to plan, deliver and share best practices. This unique integration provides a classroom environment that will improve the development, execution and management of packaging and transportation processes,” said SRNL’s Lynh Nguyen. “It was great to see SRNS and SRNL work together to bring better solutions to the site.”

Participants learned about the legal framework for transporting radioactive materials and operations within nuclear facilities. They also learned to systematically characterize radioactive materials, select appropriate and compliant packaging and develop packaging procedures. Moreover, the course emphasized the importance of a safety analysis report for packaging and quality assurance in packaging and transportation processes.

“This opportunity would not have been possible without the various organizations at SRNS identifying a need and thinking outside the box on how to continuously improve,” said Rich Zaharek, SRNS senior vice president, chief engineer and nuclear safety officer. “To meet DOE and NNSA missions, we must continue to engage and educate the next generation of the workforce to become experts in the field.”

For additional course information, visit the Radioactive Material Packaging (RAMPAC) website. To inquire about future courses, contact the DOE Packaging Certification Program Docket Manager Lawrence Gelder at 803-645-3490, or email RAMPAC@srs.gov.

-Contributor: Mackenzie McNabb