SATELLITE TRACKING OF TRANSPORTS - TRANSNUCLEAIRE'S EXPERIENCE

Transnucleaire carries out transports of nuclear materials at each stage of the fuel cycle: • from mine to reactor: yellow cake, U30 8, natural or enriched hexafluoride UF6, fresh fuel for research and power reactors, • from reactor to reprocessing: spent MTR or L WR fuel, • to storage: low, medium, and high level waste. Moreover, Transnucleaire transports nuclear materials for laboratories, research centres. universities ... In 1996, about 3000 shipments - including empty packagings - were performed by Transnucleaire. These shipments involved all the main transport modes: road, rail. sea, air, separately or combined. Frequently, between 20 and 30 shipments organised by Transnucleaire are underway at the same time. Currently, the transports of sensitive materials are already tracked by the competent authority on French territory, as part of the national security- or physical protection- requirements. However, Transnucleaire decided to implement its own tracking system in order to improve: • safety for routine service by checking the specified itineraries and managing delays in advance, • safety in emergency conditions by detecting incidents or accidents, • public acceptance management by gathering a maximum of data that could be released to the public if needed.