Study of minimum-weight highway transporters for spent nuclear fuel casks: Technical report
There are federal and state limits on the maximum tractor-trailer- payload combination and individual axle loads permissible on US highways. These can generally be considered as two sets, i.e., legal-weight and overweight limits. The number of individual shipments required will decrease as the capacity of the spent nuclear fuel cask increases. Thus, there is an incentive for identifying readily available minimum-weight tractors and trailers capable of safely and reliably transporting as large a cask as possible without exceeding the legal gross combination weight (GCW) of 80,000 lb or selected overweight GCW limit of 110,000 lb. This study identifies options for commercially available heavy-duty on-highway tractors and trailers for transporting proposed future loaded spent nuclear fuel casks. Loaded cask weights of 56,000 and 80,000 lb were selected as reference design points for the legal-weight and overweight transporters, respectively. The technical data on tractor and trailer characteristics obtained indicate that it is possible to develop a tractor-trailer combination, tailored for spent nuclear fuel transportation service, utilizing existing technology and commercially available components, capable of safely and reliably transporting 56,000 and 80,000-lb spent nuclear fuel casks without exceeding GCWs of 80,000 and 10,000 lb, respectively. 4 figs., 14 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (USA). Office of Transportation Systems and Planning
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-83CH10139
- OSTI ID:
- 6020123
- Report Number(s):
- BMI/OTSP-06; ON: DE89013119
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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