Information Disclosure on Transport

In Japan, where natural energy resources are scarce, ratio of nuclear power generation to all electric power generation is currently one third. and it is becoming an increasingly valuable energy source. Uranium used as fuel for nuclear power stations is imported for this purpose, and the nuclear raw materials (natural uranium hexafluoride, UF6) are transported by ship from foreign countries. Nuclear raw materials are converted to uranium dioxide (UOJ as new fuel assemblies, and are transported to nuclear power stations by land and sea transportation. Further, spent fuel assemblies used in nuclear power stations for electric power generation are transported to reprocessing plants at home and abroad via sea transport. For the promotion of nuclear power development and the growth of the nuclear industry, the transportation of nuclear fuel materials plays a more important role in the nuclear fuel cycle than ever before. For the intra- and intercountry transport of nuclear fuel materials, including the design approval o f transport packages, the approval o f transport packagings, the approval o f shipment, and the execution of transport, Japan follows the domestic transport regulations established in confonnity to Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material 1985 Edition(as amended 1990) made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (lAEA), and the international regulations established by lAEA and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for sea transport. Since the IAEA Transport Regulations were revised in 1996, Japan is planning to implement them in the domestic transport regulations in 2001.