ASSESSING THE RESPONSE OF TYPE B PACKAGES TO MARITIME ACCIDENT ENVIRONMENTS

The transport of radioactive material, and especially spent fuel, high-level waste, and plutonium, by sea is a source of concern for many coastal states. For states that are not nuclear-states this transport is seen as a risk without benefit. For this reason it is incumbent on the nuclear states that engage in this transport to ensure and assure that it is carried out in the safest possible manner. Safe transport is ensured by packaging the radioactive material within robust containers designed to the requirements of the IAEA. Safe transport is assured through public communication efforts, IAEA meetings, and the performance of technical studies. One large international technical study was performed under the auspices of an IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) and was documented in IAEA-TECDOC-1231. One part of the IAEA CRP involved the assessment of the structural and thermal accident conditions that a spent fuel package could experience during sea transport and comparison of those conditions to the ones imposed by the IAEA packaging standards. This paper will provide an overview of the work on accident conditions. It will include discussions on impact accidents, crush accidents, and shipboard fires. The study concluded that the accident environments associated with sea transport are no more severe than those associated with land transport, and that the existing packaging standards provide for designs that have a very high probability of remaining leak-tight following even the most severe maritime accidents.