Sharing Expertise and Experience through Focused Packaging- and Transportation-related Training Courses

Under the mandate of the amended U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has the authority to regulate all aspects of activities involving radioactive materials that are undertaken by DOE or on its behalf. Within the DOE’s Office of Packaging and Transportation, the DOE Packaging Certification Program (PCP) is responsible for the certification of fissile material and Type B packages that conform to U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements. To facilitate the implementation of the pertinent DOE Orders, rules and regulations in a safe and secure manner, PCP regularly sponsors training courses on a broad range of packaging- and transportation-related topics. The courses are offered to packaging designers and users, regulators and system administrators, and fissile handlers and shippers from the United States and abroad. The courses are typically organized and prepared by the contractor U.S. national laboratories. Several of these training courses are conducted by Argonne National Laboratory, i.e., (1) Quality Assurance (QA) for Radioactive Material Transportation Packaging, (2) Application of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code to Radioactive Material Transportation Packaging, and (3) Training and Certification of the ARG-US Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System for Enhancing Safety and Security during Transport and Storage of Radioactive Materials. In addition, Argonne is developing a training course on transport security for nuclear and other radioactive materials. All training courses include individual/group problem exercises and certificate examinations. Argonne started offering the training courses on QA in the early 1990s and the ASME Code in 2000, and the courses for the ARG-US RFID system in 2008. The first training course on transport security is anticipated to be convened in November 2013. To date, over 1500 professionals in the U.S. packaging community and abroad have completed the Argonne training courses. A detailed description of these courses and their benefits to the DOE and the packaging community is the subject of this paper.