Our services

URANUS elaborates, in compliance with IAEA’s transport regulations, safety reports for the transport of radioactive materials, especially for waste materials, fuel rods, radioactive sources, or effluents.

We carry out calculations in the fields of radiation shielding, criticality, containment, radiolysis, mechanic and thermic.

We also realize drop tests routines and study their results.

Finally, to supplement the safety report, URANUS writes the associated operating procedures. The quality insurance file for the project is carried out by URANUS’s engineers.

URANUS also carries out safety report expertise, namely:

• analysis of calculation files;
• verifivation of input data;
• examination of standards respect;
• inspection of submitted justifications and their relevance.

In order to ensure the conformity of the container’s level of safety with the requirements of national and international regulations, our action particularly relate to:

• package design and calculation model;
• permitted radioactive content;
• handling, maintenance and inspections;
• quality assurance;
• compliance assurance;
• labelling of the packager;
• approval validity (at minimum 5 years).

Our expertise fields reside particularly in radiation shielding, criticality, containment, radiolysis, thermics and mechanics.

URANUS carries out, through benchmarks calculations and evolution or activation calculations, studies relating to:

• nuclear data (neutronics characteristics of isotopes of structural materials and fissile materials);
• neutronic spectrum;
• balance sheets of neutrons.

URANUS intervenes in the field of radiation protection and radiological impacts on several angles:

• workers and population radiation protection;
• radiological impacts and risk studies;
• basis design and radiation shielding validation for nuclear facilities of for radioactive transportation casks;
• radionuclide inventories;
• attenuation factors for gamma and neutron radiations.

URANUS intervenes in the field of criticality on several aspects:

• studies and calculations of criticality standards;
• design basis of processes equipment;
• safety-criticality studies of packages used for transportation;
• safety-criticality studies of radioactive waste conditioning;
• safety-criticality studies of storages and final disposal facilities;
• validation of nuclear criticality safety calculations with the ICSBEP Handbook;
• criticality calculation method studies.

In addition to radiation protection and criticality, as part of packaging or nuclear facility validation, URANUS also carries out studies about:

• radiolysis: production of hydrogen and other flammable gases due to the effects of radiations on the matter;
• containment:
  • radiation release (radioactive contents leaking towards the outside) due to liquids, aerosols and gases, taking into account the permeation phenomenon,
  • mechanical strength of radioactive containers’ closing devices,
  • seals’ holding.

To perform these studies on radiolysis and containment, URANUS takes into account international standards (ISO, ANSI) and methods recommended by research institutes (NUREG).

URANUS carries out mechanical studies, particularly in the following fields:

• material mechanical strength;
• dynamic, especially for regulatory calculations of crash tests for transport cask of radioactive materials.

In this field, URANUS performs two types of analysis to meet regulatory standards:

• calculation of temperature ranges for materials and components, either in a permanent or a transitional regime;
• thermodynamic studies, in order to evaluate contamination’s dissemination.

URANUS carries out the following thermohydraulic studies for nuclear installations:

• analysis of thermohydraulic loadings;
• sources terms evaluation during nuclear accidents;
• severe accidents studies, accidental or incidental transient modelling during loss-of-coolant accidents.