BASIC PLANNING OF A NEWLY BUILT EXCLUSIVE SHIP FOR SPENT FUEL TRANSPORT

A commercial reprocessing plant is Wlder construction at the Fuel Cycle Facilities in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori Prefecture. To prepare for the transport of spent nuclear fuels (SF) from all Japanese nuclear power stations to this reprocessing plant, the need for an exclusive transport ship was recognized Nuclear Fuel Transport Co..Ltd. (NFI), in coopercllion with electric power utilities planned the construction of a such a ship over a period of several years. During this period NFr developed new types of cask to transport high bum-up spent fuels to the reprocessing plant. Six kinds of casks were developed and 40 units are now Wlder fabrication. The ship was designed to cany a maximum of20 units. Based on the Irradiated Nuclear Fuel (INF) Code adopted by the International Maritime Organiz.1tion (IMO), the Japanese Ministry ofTransport (Mol) issued new domestic regulations in September,l995 which covered design arteria for ships carrying Irradiated Nuclear Fuels. The new SF transport ship is the first one to which this new regulation was applied. Ahhough the ship will only ply the coastal routes of Japan, she has been designed to conform with all the international requirements for the Class-3 of the INF Code. In May 1995, Nuclear Fuel Shipping Co.,Ltd (NFS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NFr, concluded a contract with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co.,Ltd. for the construction of the exclusive transport ship. The keel was laid in November 1995. The ship was launched in April 1996 and named \"Rokuei-Maru\". At the end of September, she was completed and delivered to the ship owner, NFS.