Transporting Spent and Damaged Fuel in the United States: Recent Experience and Lessons Learned Related to the Evolving Transportation Policy of the U.S. Department of Energy*

In 1987, Fischer et al. noted that the nwnber of shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel will increase dramatically in the United States, because such material will be moved from power reactors (most of which are in the East) to a federal repository for high-level radioactive waste (presently being considered in the West). The U.S. Department of Energy, through its Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, is preparing for that large scale transport effort by developing new cask systems and modifying existing transport policy. Understandably, public attention is focused on issues related to transport of radioactive materials. This paper summarizes experience gained from recent transport actions of the Department of Energy, relates lessons learned therefrom to an evolving policy in the Department, and discusses some aspects of public involvement in such transport activities.