Transport Container Standardisation Committee
www.tcsc.org.uk

TCSC's primary role is the maintenance and development of codes of practice. Some of the codes are used directly for package design and operation, others are extensively quoted by member organisations in a wide range of safety documentation.

Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, Industry Codes of practice for the UK. A pdf of a poster designed for PATRAM 2007 is downloadable here.

Some TCSC codes are readily applicable to areas other than transport, and are of use to designers working in a wide range of engineering disciplines. The codes of practice are available for non-member organisations information and use. For further information, please contact the secretariat.

Design and Operation to Minimise Seizure of Fasteners, TCSC 31 - June 2005 provides guidance to designers and operators on the precautions that can be taken to minimise the risk of galling for fasteners.

The securing / retention of radioactive material packages on conveyances, TCSC 1006 - December 2003 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 loads. This document has been recently updated to reference the requirements of TS-R-1 & TS-G-1.1.

Design of transport packaging for radioactive material, TCSC 1042 - December 2002 contains a range of advice and data useful to designers. The code provide guidance and advice on criticality, containment, shielding, thermal and impact performance to meet the regulatory requirements and includes information on miscellaneous related issues such as lightweight packages & galling. It is applicable to IP, Type A and Type B packages.

Shielding integrity testing of radioactive material transport packaging, TCSC 1056 - December 2005 provides details of the methodology for assessing the quality of gamma shielding using the source and scintillation technique.

Leakage tests on packages for transport of radioactive materials, TCSC 1068 - December 2005 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.

Marking, labelling and placarding of packages containing radioactive material - 1996 Regulations, TCSC 1073 - June 2005 is a summary of the legal requirements, together with recommendations for good practice.

Requirements for approval of packages for the transport of radioactive material, TCSC 1078 - July 2006 Approval of radioactive material transport packages which do not require Competent Authority Approval

Lifting points for radioactive material transport packages, TCSC 1079 - June 2003 makes recommendations on design, testing and inspection, and includes a detailed guide to the application of BS 2573. This code has been recently updated to reference the requirements of LOLER & PUWER regulations. The appendix gives general methods for the correct design of welded and bolted lugs.

Finishing systems for transport containers, TCSC 1080 - December 2002 is a comprehensive guide 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. As well as providing detailed descriptions of these coatings, a series of look-up tables allows a complete finishing system to be matched with the substrate to provide the optimum protection under selected conditions.

Testing radioactive materials transport packagings, TCSC 1086 - December 2001 is complementary guidance to the IAEA advisory material (TS-G-1.1) on the technical aspects of testing. Testing a package design is often a time consuming and expensive exercise. It is therefore important that not only is it carried out correctly, but that the testing, and all the associated activities, are performed efficiently so as to minimise cost. A perfectly executed series of tests are useless if subsequently the philosophy of the test method is challenged and rejected. Hence guidance is offered on designing and building a prototype, getting the test methodology right, carrying it out successfully, and preparing a suitable report.

The Application of Finite Element Analysis to Demonstrate Impact Performance of Transport Package Designs - TCSC 1087 – January 2007 This Guide sets out current ‘good practice’ in using 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 Department for Transport. The objective is to raise the standard of Finite Element (FE) analyses so as to improve the confidence that can be placed in FE analyses, so that FE analyses can take a more central role in demonstrating regulatory compliance.

Note: Currently TCSC have work in progress to develop standards for: