Safety research on the transport of radioactive materials in Japan

The generation of electricity by commercial nuclear power plants has been steadily growing in Japan. With the increase in nuclear power plants and facilities related to the nuclear fuel cycle, many kinds of packages are expected to be required and the transport of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste materials will increase. It becomes more and more important to secure the safety of these transports. The paper explains the nuclear fuel cycles in Japan and the schedules of the new five year safety research programme formulated by the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission. (author)