The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has developed special railcars for future large-scale DOE transport of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from nuclear power plants. The designs include the Atlas railcar (designed to transport SNF containers), new buffer railcars, and a new escort railcar for security personnel that was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Navy.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing to ship one container of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from a nuclear power plant to a national laboratory to undergo further research. DOE is coordinating the shipment with Tribal and State governments and offering technical assistance and training.

The U.S. Navy’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) transports classified, high-value U.S. Navy ship components by rail, including naval spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE NE)

This report titled “Design and Prototype Fabrication of Railcars for Transport of High-Level Radioactive Materials, Phase 2: Preliminary Design” compiles the work that was completed during Phase 2.

In preparation of an integrated nuclear waste management program, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing for future large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), high-level radioactive waste (HLW), and Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) waste. A part of this preparation includes developing a fleet of railcars to be used for the transport of High-Level Radioactive Material (HLRM) and GTCC waste.

This report titled “Design and Prototype Fabrication of Railcars for Transport of High-Level Radioactive Material, Phase 3: Prototype Fabrication and Delivery” compiles the work that was completed during Phase 3. This report includes a summary of the results in meeting Phase 3 contract objectives including fabrication of the prototype railcars, an as-built data package for the fabricated railcars, test load and ballast load fabrication designs, and copies of Phase 3 deliverables in the appendices. 

As part of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Atlas Railcar Project, the Atlas and Buffer railcars were developed to meet the need for future large-scale rail transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. MxV Rail (formerly Transportation Technology Center, Inc.), a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), performed singlecar certification testing and modeling on these railcars.

This presentation provides an overview of the DOE-NE recent activities and future plans given by Dr. Erica Bickford, Director, Office of Storage & Transportation at the NTSF Annual Meeting May 20-22, 2025. 

Research project started in 2014 as a collaboration between DOE and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to support safe storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF).

This interface control document (ICD) identifies, manages and controls the transportation system interactions between the Atlas railcar transportation equipment and external activities including vendor-supplied high-level radioactive material (HLRM) transportation casks and cradles. The term HLRM was established by Association of American Railroads (AAR). HLRM includes both spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.

This report fulfills the M3 milestone M3SF-23PN0203020614, “Updated NPP Site Evaluation Report (2).” This report is an update of the 2021 report Nuclear Power Plant Infrastructure Evaluations for Removal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and includes expansion of the site evaluations to include operating nuclear power plant (NPP) sites and to incorporate updated site inventory data. Figures that include the number of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies and metric tons heavy metal (MTHM) in a single figure have also been added to the report.

This report was developed as part of a knowledge management effort to document past U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) activities related to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) transportation, storage, and disposal, including policy considerations, and to serve as an information resource in the ongoing planning for an integrated waste management program.

This is the presentation from January 8, 2025 webinar provided by Gerard Jackson, U.D. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, and Miriam Juckett, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

This node contains the segmented nuclear power plant site evaluation report.  It consists of a main report and 20 supplements that contain the site evaluations for the following sites:

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is exploring options for developing a large-scale transportation system for the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste to future storage or disposal facilities. This complex, large-scale transportation system will involve coordinated, integrated activities. Interfaces with various transportation and non-transportation activities must be defined, and systems must be developed to ensure successful integration when the system becomes operational.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing special railcars for future large-scale DOE transport of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from nuclear power plants. Designs include new buffer railcars, the Atlas railcar (to transport SNF containers), and a new escort railcar for security personnel that was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Navy. In May 2024, the Atlas Railcar was officially approved under AAR’s S-2043 standard, which is specific to railcars used to transport high level radioactive material such as SNF.

This is a Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Notice (SSN). The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) is considering options for conducting a Package Performance Demonstration (PPD) to help build public trust and confidence in the safety of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transportation casks and SNF transportation by rail, heavy-haul truck, and barge by demonstrating the ability of a SNF transportation cask to withstand hypothetical accident test conditions set forth in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 (10 CFR Part 71).

This is the information sheet for Spent Nuclear Fuel Package Performance Demonstration (PPD).

This is the presentation from the Oct 2, 2024 Spent Nuclear Fuel Package Performance Demonstration: RFI Information Session. 

This is the webinar recording.

This is an information poster for PPD stakeholders.

Presentation from the RFI information webinar on August 27, 2024 at 10 am CT (11 am ET).