Loading and Closing of 9978 Shipping Packages to Assist the New Brunswick Laboratory Deinventory Effort

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) assisted the Argonne National Laboratory with their effort to relocate Certified Reference Materials standards, originally made at the New Brunswick Laboratory, to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Part of this effort included development of an addendum to the 9978 Safety Analysis Report for Packaging. During this development, SRNL, using conservative assumptions for gas generation, determined that it was necessary to inert the entire volume within the 9978 5-inch containment vessel (5CV). SRNL developed a new procedure that allows for the evacuation of air and then a backfill of nitrogen into the 5CV. Additionally, SRNL prepared the 9978 packages for shipment, loaded the inerted 5CVs into the 9978s, and closed the 9978s for subsequent shipment. This paper describes this effort including the development of the addendum, the development of the interting procedure, the development of loading procedures, and the completion thereof.