# Radioactive



## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

Does anyone know where I can find a cask that is used in transporting radioactive spent fuel, or maybe a kit to build one for my layout. I would need the flat car and the cask.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

There's a whole lot of nuke haulin goin on.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs...=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

Maybe you can get some ideas from those.

Don


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Never seen one made for US modellers, I guess that's why you're asking, but there some for UK market. Maybe you could use just the cask.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I'm afraid you're into a rather significant kitbashing job. The US tends to use the upright cylindrical cask.

The depressed center flatcar with a rectangular cask wouldn't be too hard to do (see the center image in the top row of Don's search), but that's actually a Lionel model, not a prototype.


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

If I were to add an additional set of truck how would it affect the radius? https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1228758


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

The trucks added to the center of the car would have to be able
to move laterally in a slot in addition to swivel. You sure couldn't have any 18" curves
either. That car is a beast. 

Don


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## JNXT 7707 (May 5, 2013)

I saw one of these pass through town a few years back early one Sunday morning, on the CSX main line. The radioactive car had an empty flat car on both sides. It had a plain caboose and one loco pulling it all. 
That thing had creepy written all over it.


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

Ok nothing to do with the radioactive cars but along the same creepy line. For years and years as a firefighter/Hazmat Tech we were trained over and over about these so called "candy striped" tank cars. They carried methyl ethyl bad stuff (can't remember the name). They were only moved at special times with special permits and every city and town fire department and police force was notified that they were going to come through. I only saw one of those cars is 27 years and it was parked off by itself in a yard. The cars were tank cars, white with a red band horizontally around the center of the tank.

David

Ok I went searching and found what they were carrying in these cars----Hydrogen Cyanide Car - White with Red Stripe


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

Im sure the caboose was where the armed guards were staying. I was reading somewhere that when they haul x amount of spent fuel they have to have so many "dead cars" between the loco, cask and security (usually a passenger car). Pretty creapy. I am aware of the hazards radiation due to the fact I'm an X-Ray Tech. This is why im so intrested in making a Radiation/ Nuclear Waste train and want to get it right.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Part of the issue with the separation between casks / cars is that you have to make sure that in the event of an accident, you have only the low level of radioactive decay emitted by the waste. If enough waste were to be combined (say, with several cars falling down an embankment and ending up on top of each other), you would be at risk for a criticality incident, where there is enough mass present to sustain a nuclear chain reaction... this would be VERY bad (and happened a couple of times during our early experimentation with nuclear energy) -- bombs achieve this criticality by forcing two sub-critical masses together abruptly, reactors by gradually withdrawing control rods and allowing an already critical mass to achieve the chain reaction. You probably would not have an explosion -- fuel is not nearly as pure as the weapons grade stuff -- but it would generate a lot of heat and radiation, which would be deadly for a large radius around the accident.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

There are video clips showing the testing of these nuclear casks. In one, a locomotive
is crashed into it at speed. The cask survived.

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Nuclear+cask+crash+tests&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

Don


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

DonR said:


> There are video clips showing the testing of these nuclear casks. In one, a locomotive
> is crashed into it at speed. The cask survived.
> 
> https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Nuclear+cask+crash+tests&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001
> ...


If it hadn't I guess the locals would have turned dayglow green!


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

I saw that video on the discovery channel once. They even dropped one from an airplane, they pushed it out the back of a Hercules at a few thousand feet, did not break open, got banged up pretty good tho.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

All true, but people are still paranoid of the stuff.

Having spent many years in close proximity to reactors, I'm a little more rational about it.


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## carinofranco (Aug 1, 2012)

CTValleyRR said:


> All true, but people are still paranoid of the stuff.
> 
> Having spent many years in close proximity to reactors, I'm a little more rational about it.


This has been an interesting thread for me. I retired from 40+ years in various aspects of nuclear power R&D, including spent fuel storage and transportation cask integrity. the integrity and security of spent fuel storage in one of these casks is not on my list of things to worry about. Modeling one of these trains is a unique idea. I would like to see the finished product.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

So thumbing through my parts drawer I found a caboose chassie that should work. It has stairs on each corner. As much as I would love for the cask to be removable it will probably be preminate just because I would not be able to bore out the center of the chassie and make a well and the car be strudy. 

It looks like I should be able to use a 20' intermodel container for the cask. While im at it I'll prob make 2 or 3 just because 20' continers usually come in a 2 or 3 pack, well at least at the Hobby Town near me.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

SBRacing said:


> So thumbing through my parts drawer I found a caboose chassie that should work. It has stairs on each corner. As much as I would love for the cask to be removable it will probably be preminate just because I would not be able to bore out the center of the chassie and make a well and the car be strudy.
> 
> It looks like I should be able to use a 20' intermodel container for the cask. While im at it I'll prob make 2 or 3 just because 20' continers usually come in a 2 or 3 pack, well at least at the Hobby Town near me.



This is what makes model railroading fun. I very much enjoy
finding new uses to create a model. I made a city water
tower using the base of a Marx or Lionel revolving airport
light, glued the plastic cap from a rattle paint can on as the
tank. I attached a small communications radio antenna and
a red light. It's pump house sit next to it. Posed, not it's
actual location.









Don


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

Looks great RonR. Glad to see im not the only one who use "trash" to make things.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

SBRacing said:


> Looks great RonR. Glad to see im not the only one who use "trash" to make things.


The parachute maker has a great warranty,. if it does not work just send it back and they will send you a new one.


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

Yup, they also have one that opens upon impact.:appl:


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## Wolferz (Aug 20, 2015)

SBRacing said:


> Does anyone know where I can find a cask that is used in transporting radioactive spent fuel, or maybe a kit to build one for my layout. I would need the flat car and the cask.


This is the only ho scale car I could find. It may be a start if you are skilled at modifying or bashing it. It sounds like an awesome idea, I'd love to see the completed train when done!

http://www.con-sys.com/product_dodx.htm


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

I am gonna us the old caboose chassis as the base. I have a 20' intermodal that I'll use for the cask, However I going to glue the base of the IM to chassis to the chassis and just snap the IM on top. That way I can take the top off and reveal the spent rods. Any ideas on how to model the fuel rods?


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

LED's to simulate the blue glow!


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Individual fuel rods are only about as big around as your thumb.... say maybe half an inch. That's about 0.00575" in HO. Rods are typically handled in bundles of roughly 100 rods each (a lot depends on the reactor type), so a very thin styrene rod might suffice (say 1 scale foot in diameter).

You know, though, that those casks would never, ever be opened outside of a licensed processing site, right?


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