Cataloguing Past Incidents in Transporting Spent Nuclear Fuel

Shipments of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high level radioactive waste (HLW) have a history of more than 50 years, during which tens of thousands of tons of material have been transported in tens of thousands of shipments worldwide. The vast majority of these have been completed without incident. This safety record has been made possible by establishing robust regulatory requirements for the casks used in transport, studying past shipments and incidents, and improving equipment and procedures to lessen the probability and impacts of future events. The authors recently collected a wide array of publicly available information on transportation incidents involving SNF and HLW worldwide. This presented a challenge, as no international or US databases currently exist which are dedicated to SNF and HLW transportation incidents. Thus, sources for this research included national database reports from nations that publish them; technical reports and archival journal papers focused on the solutions to particular transportation problems; and news reports of SNF and HLW transportation incidents, including transportation accidents and protests of shipments. Based on the survey of past transportation incidents, of which several representative descriptions are included in this paper, the authors conclude that (1) the casks in which SNF and HLW are shipped are able to contain their radioactive cargoes in severe accidents because of their robust construction and their being in compliance with regulatory requirements; and (2) most incidents in transporting SNF and HLW have been minor ones, primarily resulting from procedural compliance deficiencies. Furthermore, recent incidents suggest that public information and engagement challenges outweigh technical challenges in SNF and HLW transportation, since the most significant challenges surrounding shipments in recent years have been the results of public demonstrations and protests. This paper discusses some SNF and HLW transportation incidents, as well as the process used in cataloguing them. In general, there have been few transportation incidents worldwide in the history of transporting SNF and HLW. The transportation of SNF and HLW has an excellent safety record; by learning from past incidents, shippers of SNF and HLW can continue to make safe shipments while avoiding mistakes made in the past. Despite the safe and successful record of SNF and HLW transportation, information on its record is not easy to find. Few incidents are detailed as thoroughly as the truck accident that occurred in 1971. Several anti-nuclear organizations publish pamphlets that make reference to transportation accidents involving radioactive material and imply that transporting SNF and HLW is an intrinsically dangerous activity whose history is fraught with accidents. The absence of a clear, complete, official record on transportation incidents allows these claims to continue to be unanswered and uncorrected. For these reasons, it would be beneficial to develop a database detailing incidents involving SNF and HLW internationally. (authors)