Clear Thinking on Nuclear: Transportation issues

1
Clear Thinking on Nuclear Transportation issues

• Experience, planning, and preparedness
• Well designed and thoroughly tested containers
• Coordinated efforts among federal and local
  officials

2
Experience, planning, and preparedness

• The US has a half-century of experience
  transporting radioactive materials with no
  radioactive materials being released.
• Over the last 40 years, 3,000 shipments on spent
  nuclear fuel have navigated more than 1.7 million
  miles of US roads and railways.
• Every shipment is carefully tracked and monitored
  along public routes that must meet strict safety
  requirements.

3
Well designed and thoroughly tested containers

• Shipping packages, or casks, are designed
  according to rigorous standards established by
  the Department of Transportation and the Nuclear
  Regulatory Commission.
• The casks are about 15 times thicker than a
  gasoline tank truck shell and they include three
  inches of stainless steel with thick lead
  radiation shields.
• Typically, for every ton of fuel, there are more
  than three tons of protective packaging and
  shielding.

4
Coordinated efforts among federal and local
officials

• The DOT identifies "preferred routes," of
  interstate highways and bypass routes around
  cities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
  approves all transportation security plans.
• Satellite tracking of all shipped casks is
  utilized to ensure location, and the dates of
  shipments are not publicized.
• Experienced, specially licensed trucking
  companies handle spent nuclear fuel shipments, in
  addition to many other hazardous materials, in
  the United States.

5
ANS References

• ANS Position Statement 18, The Safety of
  Transporting Radioactive Materials.
• www.ans.org/pi/faq/transport.html
• www.ocrwm.doe.gov/wat/transportation.shtml  
• Available materials
• Nuclear Power A Sustainable Source of Energy
• Personal Radiation Dose Chart