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| S A F E , S E C
U R E R A D I O A C T I V E M A T E R I A L S D
I S P O S I T I O N |
| www.duratekinc.com |
Duratek Transports Reactor
Pressure Vessel to Barnwell
by Ahmad Ghandour |
 On
September 3, 1999, Duratek signed a contract with Maine Yankee
Atomic Power Company (MY) for licensing, engineering, fabrication,
transportation, and disposal services for the decommissioning
of their Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV).
Licensing & Disposal consisted of the preparation and submittal
of an Exemption Request to the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) and providing all necessary information in order to secure
permission from the South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control (SC DHEC) to transport and dispose of
the RPV package at the Barnwell Disposal Facility. Engineering
& Fabrication included the RPV packaging system, which consisted
of a shipping container, container cover and closures, lifting/down-ending
rigging components, grouting specifications, transportation
skid, and tie-down hardware. Transportation covered water transit
starting from Sheepscott River located in Maine to the Savannah
River Site (SRS) barge slip located on the Savannah River, where
the RPV package was off loaded from the barge and land transported
through the SRS and into the Barnwell site.
The total RPV packaging system weighed approximately 1,175 tons.
The transportation skid measured 27' wide by 100' long. The
container's outer dimension was 19' 1" and its length was 36'.
The skid was designed to spread the load of the container on
the barge deck during water transit and on the self-propelled
multi-axle transporter bed during land transit. The transporter
bed consisted of 28 lines, with each line containing eight tiers.
Originally, the RPV package was going to be transported to Barnwell
around January 2001. However, due to delays in the MY decommissioning
schedule, the RPV package was not ready for shipment until September
2002. At that time, severe drought conditions in the Southeast
between 1999 and January 2003 made transport impossible up the
Savannah River due to low water levels. During February and
March of 2003, rain came back to the region with a vengeance.
On April 11, 2003, with coordination between the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the SC Department of
Natural Resources, Duratek made the decision to proceed with
preparations to ship the RPV package.
On May 6, 2003, the RPV package left MY on a barge heading south,
and arrived at the SRS barge slip on May 27, 2003. Barge off-loading
and land transportation took approximately one week. All work
activities (design, fabrication, and transportation) were executed
and completed via specific specifications, data sheets, and
work instructions and in compliance with all DOT/SC DHEC regulations
and Duratek procedures. More importantly, all activities were
completed without any injuries or accidents. This technical,
operational, and financial success of this project was a direct
result of a teamwork both within Duratek and with state regulators.
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