Experience in the Analysis of Accidents & Incidents involving the Transport of Radioactive Materials

摘要

The UK experience of transport accidents and incidents involving radioactive materials is that releases and exposures above normal are very unlikely. The few cases involving high exposures have been mainly due to human error. Training and control have improved this situation. Quality control is an important feature of the transport regulations. During the period covered by the database of events, there have been minor changes in the types of material transported and the modes of transport used. There has been a steady increase in the use of radioactive materials for medical purposes, which has resulted in an increase in the number of shipments of these materials. This may have been a possible contributing factor in the increase of airport handling events involving packages of medical isotopes in the 1970s and 1980s. These events have since been reduced significantly through improved handling procedures and the redesign of packages to make crushing by forklift trucks less likely. Spills of UOC from drums mishandled at docksides were virtually eliminated by the use of freight containers for the transport of the drums. Over the whole period, there has been an overall decrease in the number of serious incidents and a slight increase in the number of less serious incidents. The latter could be due to an increase in package movements and more efficient reporting of events including those which may have previously been undetected.