Atlas Railcar Certified in United States

The Association of American Railroads certified the Atlas railcar system to operate on all major freight railroads in the United States.

The high-tech railcar was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and will be used to transport the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

The certification is the highest safety standard set by the AAR for transporting high-level radioactive material.

Full Steam Ahead

Atlas is a 12-axle railcar that comes fully equipped with high-tech sensors and monitoring systems.

It was built to safely and securely transport the nation’s heaviest shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel weighing up to 480,000 pounds.

The railcar project took ten years to complete and cost approximately $33 million dollars.

The entire railcar system includes Atlas, two buffer railcars, and a rail escort vehicle that was developed in partnership with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

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