Study on Method of Environmental Impact Assessment During Sea Transportation of Radioactive Materials

There is a special safety standard called INF Code at IMO (International Maritime Organization) for structure and systems of transport ships of high-level wastes. In Japan , there is a technical standard which is adopted from the INF Code by the Director-General of the Maritime Technology and Safety Bureau, Ministry of Transport. It is extremely difficult to assume that a ship will crash into another ship and a fire break out, and if it should happen, it is hard to predict that the ship will sink. On the other hand, for transport of radioactive materials, there is a safety standard stipulated in \"Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material\" issued by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, 1986). In the regulations, a technical standard and quality assurance program of packaging, etc., are stipulated, and every country in the world which has activities of nuclear energy incorporates the regulations into its domestic legislation and has ensured the safety of the international transport of radioactive materials. In regard to environmental impact assessment, there are no requirements in the regulations. Therefore, in this research, an environmental impact assessment has been made by assuming that a package might sink for unknown reasons. The sequence of the assessment is shown in Figure 1.