Year
1986
File Attachment
345.PDF1.32 MB
Abstract
The number of packages containing radioactive materials transported by road in Belgium during the reference year (I 977) was 65 181, of which 14 686 were Type B and 50 495 were industrial Type A packages. These packages were conveyed in 9380 journeys representing 0.35 million vehicle kilometres. The ratio of the transport of radioactive materials to that of freight conveyors (lorries) and general traffic is of the order of 1.2 X 10-4 and 1.2 X 10-5 , respectively. These figures show that the transport of radioactive materials accounts for a minimally small proportion of the general traffic, even though it makes a significant contribution in the field of medicine, research and industry. Surveys of accidents which have occurred during the transport of hazardous materials, especially radioactive materials, have been carried out in different European countries and the United States of America and it has emerged that the number of accidents involving radioactive materials is extremely small. Conclusions have been drawn from these statistics regarding the configuration of accidents, the obstacle encountered, the energy absorption capacity of the vehicle and the speed of impact. One of these conclusions is that the average probability of an accident occurring in Europe is of the order of 5()..63% for accidents with head-on impact and 9-41% for accidents with lateral impact. An average severe accident rate per kilometre for Europe has been determined for light vehicles (total permissible laden weight 40; 3.5 t) and heavy vehicles (total permissible laden weight >3.5 t), which is 8 X 10-7 and 4 X 10-8 , respectively.