Without proper end-of-life management, disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRSs) become vulnerable to loss, theft, or sabotage that can result in accidents and incidents. Type B quantities of radioactive material can be particularly hard to manage due to complexity and costs associated with their transportation. Historically, a major part of this issue stems from the lack of certified Type B packagings.

To help address this issue, in 2009 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security (ORS) directed Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to design, test, certify, and fabricate Type B packaging for domestic and international use. Through these efforts, the NNSA Model 380-B Type B packaging was developed. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certified the 380-B in 2017, and since then, one unit has been fabricated and brought into operation.

The 380-B is a shielded container designed primarily for domestic (US) transportation of DSRSs in self-shielded irradiators. Maximum activities of Cs-137 and Co-60 payloads are 1505 TBq and 285 TBq, respectively. The 380-B is mounted on a dedicated trailer outfitted with a number of features to ensure safety and effective operation. The container is also leak-tight allowing for the transport of both special and normal form materials.

The 380-B was put into service on May 1, 2021. This was a major achievement for ORS/LANL after putting years of effort into the 380B,and it’s operational infrastructure and processes. The source recovery was of a blood irradiator containing ~62 TBq of Cs-137. This packaging is now a fixture in ORS’s fleet of Type B containers aiding in the safe and compliant decommissioning of self-shielded irradiators in the US.