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 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 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 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 an information poster for PPD stakeholders.

This document provides a white paper detailing required changes to the DOE Atlas railcar conceptual cradle attachment components and Phase 1 conceptual cradle design due to the addition of the HI-STAR 190 SL and XL casks to the project. 

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing for future large-scale transport of spent 
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, which are collectively defined as High-Level Radioactive 
Material (HLRM) by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). A part of this preparation includes 
designing railcars to be used for the transport of HLRM. 
 

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing for future large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, which are collectively defined as High-Level Radioactive Material (HLRM) by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). A part of this preparation includes designing railcars to be used for the transport of HLRM.