RISKS OF PLUTONIUM TRANSPORTATION

Several risk analyses have been carried out in different countries to answer the questions: what are the risks of plutonium transportations and are they acceptable? Many of them are evaluated thoroughly in the paper and compared with each other, the different boundary conditions of each being taken into account. The main goal of this comparative survey was to estimate the risk of transporting plutonium within the total risk of nuclear energy generation and in comparison with other technical and natural risks. An additional goal was to work out the difference - if any - between the transportation risks of the two chemical forms (Pu oxide power and Pu nitrate solution). The most important results of this study are: (I) the potential risk of Pu transportation is less than 0.1% of the total risk associated with nuclear energy production with Pu recycling; (2) the chemical form of Pu has no significant influence on transportation risks; (3) the use of large transport containers for Pu nitrate solutions does not increase the transport risks; there are even several advantages; (4) the transport mode (rail or road) does not influence the transportation risks significantly; (5) risks of Pu transportation are several orders of magnitude lower than many other natural or technical risks and therefore can be considered to be acceptable.