PLUTONIUM TRANSPORT PACKAGE CLOSURE SURVEY

In the fall of 1976, Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories conducted a survey of eight facilities receiving plutonium shipments to determine the condition of plutonium shipping packages during shipment. This survey followed a similar survey conducted by PNL in early 1974. The package types considered were the L-10, 6M and LLD-1 packages. A total of 6,700 packages were included in the survey. Compared to the earlier survey, a marked reduction was observed in nonstandard package closure conditions. One exception was an increase in the occurrence of extremely tight pipe plugs in the 2R inner container for the 6M package. This is not felt to be a significant safety problem. The reduction i n nonstandard package closure conditions was apparently due to the improved quality assurance in packing procedures