Year
2013
File Attachment
233.pdf552.66 KB
Abstract
A transport risk assessment study was conducted in 2009 for the transport of radioactive waste with negligible heat-generation (low- to medium-level) to the German repository Konrad. This study was a revision of the former Konrad Transport Study performed by GRS in 1991 implementing updated waste data among other improved methods and assumptions for the purpose of a more realistic approach to risk assessment. According to the results of the revised survey each year approximately 2,300 shipping units of low and medium active waste will be transported to the Konrad site starting with its expected begin of operation. The transport risk assessment study 2009 concerned the radiological consequences from routine (incident-free) transport of radioactive material as well as from accidents. The results covered the first ten years of operation of the Konrad site based on detailed information, e.g. waste characteristics, up to the year 2008. Meanwhile the expected begin of operation of the Konrad site has been postponed. Over time the characteristics and the amount of produced radioactive waste will also change, e.g. all German nuclear power plants have to shut down until 2022 and will be decommissioned afterwards. Therefore, two additional prognostic transport scenarios for the years 2020 and 2040 have been evaluated. These prognostic scenarios are based on the reference scenario from the transport risk assessment study (i.e. 80 % of the radioactive waste is shipped by rail and 20 % by road) and the forecasts for future waste volumes published by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. The results show that the accident rate with release of radioactive material for 2020 and 2040 is slightly lower compared to the reference scenario from 2009. The possible consequences after an accident are in the same order of magnitude or even slightly smaller compared to the reference scenario from the transport risk assessment study.