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. The DOE collaborated with the United States Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) to purchase a rail escort vehicle (REV). MxV Rail, a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), performed certification testing and modeling on these railcars.

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.

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 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.

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.