Overview
Each day thousands of shipments of radioactive materials are
transported around the world. These consignments which are carried
by road, rail, sea and inland waterways can range from smoke
detectors, cobalt sources for medical uses, to nuclear fuel cycle
materials for electricity generation.
The transport of radioactive materials has a long history
spanning several decades. Over this period a stringent regulatory
regime has been developed at both international and national
levels. The safety record of these shipments is impressive, in over
45 years there has never been a transport incident that has caused
significant radiological damage to people or the environment.
Nuclear fuel cycle
Nuclear power currently supplies around 16% of the world's
demand for electricity. The majority of these reactors are either
pressurised water reactors or boiling water reactors and in both
cases the primary fuel is enriched uranium oxide. The fuel core for
these light water reactors typically contains many fuel assemblies
consisting of sealed fuel rods, each filled with sintered uranium
dioxide pellets.
To sustain this important source of energy, nuclear utilities
around the world depend on safe, efficient and reliable transport
of the full range of nuclear fuel cycle materials.
Front end and back end operations
Nuclear fuel cycle transports are commonly designated as either
front end or back end. The front end covers all the operations from
the mining of uranium to the manufacture of new fuel assemblies for
loading into the reactors. The back end covers all the operations
concerned with the spent fuel which leaves the reactors, i.e. the
shipment of spent fuel elements from nuclear power plants to
reprocessing facilities for recycling, and the subsequent transport
of the products of reprocessing. Alternatively, if the once-through
option is chosen, the spent fuel is transported to interim storage
facilities pending its final disposal, for instance, into a deep
geological repository.
Non-fuel cycle transport
Nuclear power is not the only industry which relies on the
transport of radioactive materials. In fact, the vast majority of
transports - around 95% - are not fuel cycle related. Radioactive
materials are used extensively in medicine, agriculture, research,
manufacturing, non-destructive testing and in the exploration of
minerals.
All these industries are becoming increasingly global in terms
both of products and services. Safe and secure national and
international transport of radioactive materials by all modes of
transport is essential to support them.