SUCCESS AND CHALLENGES IN TRANSPORTING FOREIGN RESEARCH REACTOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL

摘要

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) resumed shipments of foreign research reactor (FRR)spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to the Savannah River Site (SRS) in 1996, completing seven shipmentsin the first two years of a 13 year program. While the foreign aspects of the shipments havecontinued much as they did for shipments in the 1960’s through the 1980’s, the domestictransportation of this material has been unique and consistently a challenge. Each shipment hasbeen conducted in an entirely safe manner. But each shipment has also been different.Extensive transportation planning involving affected State and Federal agencies was conductedprior to the first shipment. Rail has been the preferred mode of travel versus the historicalpreference for truck. Security, radiological protection, and emergency preparedness havereceived special scrutiny. The first seven shipments of FRR SNF to SRS have providedopportunities for DOE to solve problems in real time and incorporate those issues into lessonslearned for all future shipments. Among the challenges that have arisen in these early shipmentsare: all aspects of communications, interactions with local communities along the routes, publicnotifications of shipments, compliance with applicable regulations, oversight of transportationactivities, and the coordination of the large number of personnel and organizations required tomake the activity a success.This paper will review the major challenges associated with the FRR SNF shipments to SRS andthe resolutions that have been developed for each situation. The successes noted for eachshipment will be reviewed. In addition, a look ahead at future challenges in transporting FRRSNF will be provided.