The Atlas railcar system developed by the U.S. Department of Energy to transport the nation's commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste has been certified for operation by the Association of American Railroads.
June 4, 2024
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The Association of American Railroads (AAR) certified the Atlas railcar system to operate on all major freight railroads in the United States.
The high-tech railcar was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and will be used to transport the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The certification is the highest safety standard set by the AAR for transporting high-level radioactive material.
Full Steam Ahead
Atlas is a 12-axle railcar that comes fully equipped with high-tech sensors and monitoring systems.
It was built to safely and securely transport the nation’s heaviest shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel weighing up to 480,000 pounds.
The railcar project took ten years to complete and cost approximately $33 million dollars.
The entire railcar system includes Atlas, two buffer railcars, and a rail escort vehicle that was developed in partnership with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
The railcars wrapped up final testing last fall by completing a 1,680 round-trip journey from Pueblo, Colorado to Scoville, Idaho. They are the first DOE railcars to meet the rigorous testing requirements of AAR’s S-2043 standard for transporting high-level radioactive material.
"The certification of the Atlas railcar by the AAR is a significant step forward as we develop the infrastructure to safely manage and store the nation’s nuclear waste,” said Paul Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition. “The capability for DOE to safely and securely transport spent nuclear fuel is a key component of DOE’s vision for an integrated waste management system that includes transportation, and government-owned storage and permanent disposal identified through a consent-based siting process.”
Flexible Transportation
Atlas is one of two railcars DOE is developing to provide flexibility in transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to future federal interim storage facilities and disposal sites.
Fabrication efforts are underway on the 8-axle Fortis railcar that will be used to handle lighter loads once in operation.
Fortis is expected to begin single car testing no earlier than 2025 and could be operational before the end of the decade.
Subject to appropriations, the Department is moving forward on a government-owned consolidated interim storage facility project that includes rail transportation.
DOE intends to eventually transport more than 140,000 metric tons of commercial spent nuclear fuel that is estimated to be generated in the United States by 2060.
The location of the storage facility would be selected through DOE’s consent-based siting process that puts communities at the forefront and would ultimately reduce the number of locations where commercial spent nuclear fuel is stored in the United States.
Construction and operation of a federal consolidated interim storage facility will require amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to move those phases of the project forward.