Calculation of gamma-ray dose to transport container seals

This paper describes an unusual shielding problem: the annual dose to the elastomeric seals of two designs of transport container with different shielding thicknesses had to be calculated, to compare against an experimentally obtained dose for which seal integrity had already been demonstrated. Six waste compositions were considered, representing the different types of waste expected to be transported in the containers. Shielding calculations were performed to determine the gamma-ray fluxes at the seal positions and hence the dose that would be absorbed by the seals in a twelve-month operating period. The majority of the calculations were performed using the point kernel computer code RANKERN. The degree of pessimism in the method used to determine the seal doses from the RANKERN calculated gamma-ray fluxes was confirmed by repeating one sample case using the best-estimate Monte Carlo computer code MCBEND.