Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

The Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant Packaging Program provides safe, efficient, and economical packaging for transporting general cargoes, radioactive materials, and other hazardous materials. This packaging program is focused on five factors necessary for success: quality assurance, design safety, container packaging experience, a mature production program, and strict cost and schedule controls.

The Quality Assurance Plan and Procedures have provided the foundation for the Y-12 Plant container production program for over four years. During this time, the program has provided more than 2,000 certified drum-type packages that have been carefully managed using configuration controls including tracking of all containers and listing of their locations in a database.

Design safety, material containment, nuclear criticality safety, and radiation shielding are essential considerations of every nuclear package designed and certified at the Y-12 Plant. In addition to design safety, a test plan for qualification tests is often included to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, assist in the development of operating procedures and specifications, and support the preparation of reports detailing the results of design analyses and container tests.

The Y-12 Plant has cultivated a very capable and experienced work force in container packaging through management commitment and employee education in container development and management. Relevant packaging experience of personnel in the program ranges from 6 to 38 years, with many employees having earned related graduate degrees.

A mature production program with a realistic manufacturing plan has proved successful over the years at the Y-12 Plant. The plan involves a flow process that includes Department of Energy (DOE) control points, customer surveillance, container design and development, production, and product qualification and acceptance. During FY92, more than 1,000 hazardous material containers were produced to support current weapon and returns programs. Cost and schedule controls inherent in the program management system at the Y-12 Plant have been coupled with the production program.

Y-12 Packaging has met all published and approved schedule and budget constraints set by the DOE, and plans to continue actively pursuing its mission of ensuring the availability of all types of required packaging, soliciting additional work in hazardous material packaging, and pursuing marketing opportunities in the national and international arena. Diversification of packaging efforts will be emphasized and capabilities will be expanded to match potential customer needs.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.