The INL packaging and transportation activities demonstrate our ability to meet rigorous compliance requirements at a high-profile site while addressing multiple risk-reduction challenges. Our highly trained staff have:
Orano Federal Services has developed the transport plans for the site as part of DOE Order 460, approved by DOE-Idaho. We have obtained special permits from the U.S. Department of Transportation to ship unique hazardous materials, and for 2 years developed plans to ship experimental fuel from a reactor in France to INL. In terms of innovation, Orano Federal Services has introduced several casks and other equipment into the DOE system, including 3 Battelle Research Reactor (BRR) packages and remote handling equipment for managing wastes in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) canal.
Our knowledge of relevant program regulations provides an advantage when determining the most cost-effective packaging and transportation services. For example, Orano saved the Government over $500,000 in transportation costs when sending 1,600 drums with residual sodium waste for disposal. We also travelled to the Sellafield nuclear site in the United Kingdom to determine how to transport samples of MAGNOX fuel from the United Kingdom to the U.S. in DOT 7A containers. Working with engineers from several DOE national laboratories, our experts selected precise sections of fuel and planned sampling based on bounding scenarios to allow the use the DOT 7A containers. Also in support of this program, Orano Federal Services provides transportation services for the DOE Off-Site Source Recovery Program, managed by DOE NNSA, in strict compliance with DOE Orders and DOT and OSHA regulations.
Orano supported the Remote-Handled Low Level Waste (RH LLW) Disposal Facility project, which won a merit award in the Specialty Construction category from the Engineering News Record
(ENR) Mountain States publication.
The ENR Mountain States held the 2019 Best Projects competition across a seven-state region that includes Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Battelle Energy Alliance, the management and operations contractor of the Idaho National Laboratory, submitted the RH LLW Disposal Facility project to the ENR Mountain States in the spring of 2019.
There were a total of 156 entries this year and the projects covered a range of industries, from health care to K-12 education, to manufacturing, to water/environment. A panel of 12 judges from all areas of the industry—architects, green consultants, virtual designers, and engineers, selected the winners and merit awards.