Improved safety plan of new LLW transport ship

Nuclear Fuel Transport Co., Ltd. ("NFT") owns three ships for transporting low-level radioactive waste ("LLW") and spent fuel ("SF"), and NFT has been transporting such cargo safely without any accidents on account of the crew's ability to sail the ships and navigation management groups' earnest safety efforts. The Seiei-maru, an LLW transport ship, has transported over 280,000 LLW drums over 25 years. NFT decided construction of the new LLW transport ship which will be completed in March 2019 and to retire the Seiei-maru from service by September 2019. Based on lessons learned from the tsunami attack by the Great East Japan Earthquake, the new ship has more improved specification for emergency evacuation from port than the Seiei-maru has. The new ship has the following features. Also the new ship must conform to the KAISA 450 requirements, which are requirements specific to Japanese government for LLW transport ships. The new ship's features include: Main engine and main shaft: twin engines and twin shafts, Propeller: controllable pitch propeller, Steering: joystick controller for instinctive navigation, Side thruster: increased thrust, On-board crane: improved tightening method. (author)