The changing nature of nuclear transport

The IAEA's efforts in transport safety have been proven through 25 years of nearly accident-free transport, with no evidence of death or injury from the nuclear characteristics of those shipments. Much testing has been done over the last five years to verify the technical bases for the IAEA Regulations. Rather than being complacent with the past, we should instead see ourselves at a turning point for the solution of problems coming up in the next few years. The number of shipments will increase drastically and this will result in changes of risk levels. A number of critical problems will be discussed: (1) lack of public acceptance of nuclear shipment safety; (2) transport safeguards; (3) incompleteness in the IAEA package damage tests; (4) need for innovative technology for spent fuel casks; (5) reduction of radiation dose to the public; (6) quality assurance; (7) engineering analyses versus scale-model and full-scale testing; and (8) transport controls. A recommendation is made to the IAEA to set up immediately a study group to define these problems, list alternatives and options, and recommend corrective actions. (author)