Watch: Atlas Cleared for Operation
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Atlas (pictured) is a 12-axle U.S. Department of Energy-designed railcar for transporting shipments of spent nuclear fuel weighing up to 480,000 pounds (240 tons). The $33 million project took 10 years to complete. (DOE Photograph)
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) Equipment Engineering Committee (EEC) has certified the Atlas railcar system to run on all major U.S. freight railroads, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy, which developed it to transport the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste weighing up to 480,000 pounds (240 tons).
