[en] Two studies were completed which evaluate the environmental impact of radioactive material transport. The first was a generic study which evaluated all radioactive materials and all transportation modes; the second addressed spent fuel and fuel-cycle wastes shipped by truck, rail and barge. A portion of each of those studies dealing with the change in impact resulting from alternative shipping methods is presented in this paper. Alternatives evaluated in each study were mode shifts, operational constraints, and, in generic case, changes in material properties and package capabilities. Data for the analyses were obtained from a shipper survey and from projections of shipments that would occur in an equilibrium fuel cycle supporting one hundred 1000-MW(e) reactors. Population exposures were deduced from point source radiation formulae using separation distances derived for scenarios appropriate to each shipping mode and to each exposed population group. Fourteen alternatives were investigated for the generic impact case. All showed relatively minor changes in the overall radiological impact. Since the radioactive material transport is estimated to be fewer than 3 latent cancer fatalities (LCF) for each shipment year (compared to some 300,000 yearly cancer fatalities or 5000 LCF's calculated for background radiation using the same radiological effects model), a 15% decrease caused by shifting from passenger air to cargo air is a relatively small effect. Eleven alternatives were considered for the fuel cycle/special train study, but only one produced a reduction in total special train baseline LCF's (.047) that was larger than 5%