Organizations Involved

The companies responsible for the recycling and the shipments are well-established and well-regarded organizations. The ten Japanese electrical power companies are represented by the Overseas Reprocessing Committee (ORC). BNFL and COGEMA are, respectively, the operators of the British and French reprocessing facilities. All of these organizations have a history of complying with the national and international regulations which govern their activities.

Special Packages

Nuclear material is safely transported extensively within Japan, Europe and elsewhere throughout the world, often involving different modes of transport at different stages of a journey. For this reason safety is ensured by specially designed transport packages, known as casks, which comply with rigorous international standards.

Casks containing nuclear materials have been safely transported in the UK, France and Japan for over 30 years. They are specially designed for the particular radioactive material they contain, give protection to workers and the public against radiation and are designed to withstand the most serious accidents.

The casks are massive steel structures made from 10-inch thick forged steel and weigh around 100 tonnes. In the case of used fuel, each cask typically contains about five tonnes of fuel. With vitrified waste, each cask contains 20 or 28 stainless steel canisters which, in turn, contain the solid vitrified glass waste. Each full canister weighs around 500 kg.

The casks are built to standards set down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations organization. The philosophy of their regulations is that safety is ensured by the special packages whatever mode of transport is used. The regulations which they have established have been agreed by international experts representing 127-member countries of the IAEA. Under these regulations the cask design has successfully met a series of rigorous fire, impact and immersion criteria.

TN 28 VT Transport Cask