AREVA on Wednesday said its Federal Services branch had received an $8.6 million contract from the Department of Energy to design and produce prototype railcars for transport of nuclear material. The contract covers transport cask cars that would carry spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive material (HLRM), as well as “buffer” cars that would separate the material in transit from the locomotive.
The Association of American Railroads would certify all concepts for HLRM shipment before production could begin.
More than 70,000 metric tons of spent fuel is in temporary storage at nuclear plants across the country. The Department of Energy is charged with establishing a permanent repository for the material, but the Obama administration halted work on the planned Yucca Mountain site in Nevada in favor of a plan for decomingling defense and commercial waste at separate storage facilities.
DOE’s current plan calls for beginning operation of a pilot national consolidated interim repository by 2021 and to locate and license a larger facility by 2025, AREVA noted.“Safe and reliable transportation is a vital component of our country’s integrated nuclear waste disposition program,” said Tom Franch, president of AREVA Federal Services, said in a press release. “With our commitment to operational excellence and more than 50 years of international experience in nuclear material transportation, we have the resources and expertise to support the DOE’s effort to plan and to develop options for execution of this program.”
The project team led by AREVA Federal Services will include KAGRO Rail, which makes the sole cask car presently approved for shipping HLRM material; the Transportation Technology Center for railcar modeling and testing services; and Stoller Newport News Nuclear and MHF Services for design analyses.
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