Trusted Standards for Radioactive Transport

This TCSC Code of Practice provides industry good practice guidance on bolting and threaded fasteners.

Provides an overview on the design of transport packagings for radioactive material and cross references to other TCSC Codes of Practice where in depth guidance on a specific subject or aspect of design is provided.

To ensure safe transportation of radioactive material, it is essential that the transport package ‘Containment System’ is capable of preventing the release of radioactive material during routine, normal and accident conditions of transport. Elastomeric seals are a frequently favoured method of sealing radioactive material transport packages, and when used these elastomeric seals form part of this primary ‘Containment System’. This document provides industry good practice on the use of elastomeric seals.

Provides comprehensive guides on the specification and application of coating systems to a range of commonly encountered surfaces, which, despite the title, are not limited to transport containers.

This Code of Practice is declared obsolescent as of August 2019. TCSC considers that it is no longer necessary to maintain this guidance document, as it is considered that appropriate British, European and/or International standards exist to enable the definition of an appropriate finish for a wide range of materials that may be used in the manufacture of transport containers. TCSC also recommends that designers consult with manufacturers in order to define an appropriate finish, as the latter are likely to have specialised expertise in this subject area. Nevertheless, it is recognised that the guidance within this document may be a useful starting point for designers when considering the appropriate finish for transport packaging.

Provides industry good practice guidance for Designers and Consignors when considering supplementary marking, placarding and labelling of packages for the safe transport of radioactive material in the UK.

This Guide sets out current ‘good practice’ in using the explicit FEM for the analysis of impact behaviour of transport packages and specifically for the demonstration of compliance with the UK regulations for public domain transport when applying for the necessary approval from the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation.

Provides complementary guidance to the IAEA Advisory Material for the Transport Regulations (SSG-26) on the technical aspects of testing. Testing a package design is often a time consuming and expensive exercise. A perfectly executed series of tests are useless if subsequently the philosophy of the test method is challenged and rejected.

This guide to Packaging Repair provides guidance on the process to be applied for the repair of packaging to enable it to remain compliant with the requirements for the safe transport of radioactive material.

Covers a wide range of techniques that can be used to assess and measure the leakage rate through package containment. The sensitivities of the various qualitative methods are given, together with the theoretical background to pressure drop techniques.

Note that this Code of Practice is obsolescent as of May 2016, as the ISO standard: International Organisation for Standardisation, Safe Transport or radioactive materials – Leakage testing on packages – ISO12807 addresses a similar scope to TCSC 1068 and is considered by TCSC to be an appropriate alternative to this Code of Practice. However, it is recognised that the Code of Practice does contain useful guidance that could serve as introductory training material to personnel who are new to the field of transport packaging design. It should be noted that ISO 12807:2018 specifically addresses leakage testing of Type B(U), Type B(M) or Type C packages only, whereas TCSC 1068 also addresses Industrial Packages and Type A packages. The Transport Container Standardisation Committee considers that leakage tests methods for Type B(U), Type B(M) or Type C packages may also be applied to Industrial Packages and Type A packages.

An industry standard on lifting points for radioactive material transport packages, which makes recommendations on the design, testing, examination and marking of lifting points for radioactive material transport packages approved in the UK. This Code of Practice has been updated to include design verification methods to the BS EN 13001 series and to BS ISO 10276.

This Procurement Guide for Transport Packaging provides guidance for the supply of services required to enable the procurement of transport packaging that meet the requirements for the safe transport of radioactive material. It should be noted that these services are considered to include the minimum requirements to enable the user to procure goods and services in a responsible manner and to operate as an Intelligent Customer.

To help consignors understand the requirements for transporting radioactive material as an Excepted Package.

Provides guidance on format of Package Design Safety Report for self assessment and approval of package Types IP-1, IP-2, IP-3 and Type A, including a template for the Certificate for Approval.

Provides guidance to designers when specifying the shielding integrity test requirements and details of the methodology for assessing the quality of shielding using the source and scintillation technique and ultrasonics.

To provide designers in-depth guidance on surface finish for transport containers manufactured in stainless steel.

Note that this Code of Practice is obsolescent as of August 2023.

The design and approval of radioactive materials transport packaging plays a central role in ensuring the safe transport of radioactive materials. The most hazardous radioactive materials must be transported in a Competent Authority approved package design. This requires the applicant to provide documentary evidence of the compliance of the design with the applicable regulatory requirements, often submitted in the form of a Package Design Safety Report (PDSR). This document provides industry good practice guidance to aid in the design of packages types requiring Competent Authority approval.

This document provides guidance on the testing of Type IP-2, Type IP-3 and Type A Packages.

Provides guidance on design, manufacture, testing, approval and operation of ISO Freight Containers as Industrial.

Provides guidance on the design and operation of package tie-down systems. It suggests suitable stress limits, provides fatigue data together with simple methods for calculating design load.

TCSC 1006 July 2018 identifies that the design code accepted for assessing steel items in tie-down systems is BS 2573-1:1983 Rules for the design of cranes. Part 1: Specification for
classification, stress calculations and design criteria for structures in respect of the methods for strength calculations. BS 2573 has now been withdrawn and fully superseded by the BS EN 13001 series which addresses the general design of cranes. An advisory note has been added to TCSC 1006 as of August 2018 to note the that BS2573 has been withdrawn.

TCSC 1006 July 2018 is under review. Updated recommendations on methods for strength calculations will be provided in due course.

Provides guidance on the thermal testing and analysis of packages, to supplement and support the information provided in the IAEA Regulations and the accompanying advisory material.