Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Text), spent fuel must be disposed of in a geologic repository and under the terms of NWPA Amendments of 1987, Yucca Mountain, Nevada is the only site under study for the repository. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Text) required that the NRC modify its licensing criteria for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive wastes in the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada to be consistent with the Environmental Protection Agency's final site-specific standard for Yucca Mountain. The NRC published its final licensing criteria, known as 10 CFR 63 (Text) on November 2, 2001. Part 60 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (Text) governs disposal of high-level radioactive waste in geologic repositories.

According to the DOE Total Life Cycle Cost Report for the Yucca Mountain site, DOE has already spent $6.7 billion on the repository program, and estimates that approximately $50 billion will be spent during the lifetime of the Yucca Mountain project. The NWPA established the Nuclear Waste Fund (the Fund) to pay for the costs of characterizing and developing a permanent repository. The Fund is derived from fees collected from a 1.0 mil per kilowatt-hour assessment on all electricity generated by commercial nuclear power plants, as well as equivalent assessments on quantities of spent fuel or other high level wastes to be disposed of at Yucca Mountain from Federal agencies. In return, the Secretary is required to accept title, subsequently transport, and dispose of a generator's spent fuel and high-level wastes. The NWPA required the Secretary to begin disposal of these wastes not later than January 31, 1998. The U.S. Government has signed contracts with nuclear power producers agreeing to take their spent fuel, and setting up a timetable and regulations regarding shipments. (Text of Contract) For every delay in opening the repository, and every timeline not met by the Department of Energy, the industry is racking up charges against the U.S. taxpayer. (Story)

TRU waste is to be disposed of in a repository specifically built for TRU located at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, at Carlsbad, New Mexico.

In order to bury the waste in these repositories it must be transported from where it is now (Map), to their locations, so first we will discuss transportation issues.

All spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste destined for the repository will be in solid form. These materials would be transported to a repository in large, strong containers called casks on trains, barges, and trucks. Requirements for Radioactive Material Packages in the storage and transportation of radioactive material are determined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Energy (DOE), and U.S. Postal Service (USPS). There are, of course, strict regulations governing the shipment and packaging of radioactive materials as there are for hazardous materials. We all know how carefully trucking companies follow the rules, but in this case although there have been the usual leaking, damaged and mishandled packages, no one has actually been seriously injured by a shipment of nuclear materials. The industry’s safety record is pretty good, better than shippers of hazardous materials, who have been involved in 99,490 incidents resulting in 356 major injuries, 114 deaths, and $317,523,997 in damages between January 7, 1987 and December 31, 1996. Since 1965, more than 2,500 shipments of spent nuclear fuel have been safely carried out in the United States between nuclear power plants, government research facilities, and industrial complexes.

In the early 1980's, DOE leased capsules containing radioactive cesium-137 to commercial irradiation facilities to sterilize medical equipment. In 1990, a single capsule leaked at one of the commercial facilities in Decatur, Georgia. DOE decided to recall all cesium capsules from commercial operators and transport them to their place of origin, the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility in Hanford, Washington. Though the cesium capsules, in the form of cesium chloride salt, are small (21 inches long, 6 inches in diameter, and weighing about 20 pounds), they are highly radioactive and must be stored under water and handled remotely with heavy shielding during use and transportation. DOE and states along the cesium transportation routes worked together to develop stringent protocols and procedures to be followed during the cesium return shipping campaign. Many of these procedures had been developed in anticipation of WIPP shipments, including enhanced inspection criteria developed in conjunction with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), use of a detailed transportation plan, and use of a responsible carrier with well-trained, dedicated drivers. The shipments were conducted over the course of one year beginning in May 1994. The shipping campaign was very successful with no incidents or accidents.

The DOE estimates that 0.7-3.0 accidents will occur per million shipment miles by truck and 11.9 accidents per million shipment miles by train. The estimate of shipment miles in millions over the next 30 years is 62.3 by truck and 14.0 by rail, resulting in an estimate of the number of accidents likely to occur of between 210-354. Accidents are inevitable. In September of 1977, the NRC issued a generic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), titled “Final Environmental Statement on the Transportation of Radioactive Material by Air and Other Modes,” NUREG-0170, that provided the regulatory basis for issuance of general licenses for transportation of radioactive material under 10 CFR 71. The EIS covered the transport of all types of radioactive material by all transport modes (road, rail, air, and water). NUREG-0170 estimated the radiation doses and latent cancer fatalities that might be associated with the transportation of 25 different radioactive materials by plane, truck, train, and ship or barge. One of the 25 radioactive materials examined by NUREG-0170 was spent power reactor fuel. The estimates used in the EIS were made using Version 1 of the RADTRAN code (RADTRAN 1), that was developed specifically to perform the NUREG-0170 study. RADTRAN is a computer program which has become the standard for transportation risk assessment. The code was developed at Sandia National Laboratories. RADTRAN combines user-determined meteorological, demographic, transportation, packaging, and material data with health physics data to calculate the expected radiological consequences and accident risk of transporting radioactive materials.

The so-called Modal Study for the NRC, more properly titled "Shipping Container Response to Severe Highway and Railway Accident Conditions" NUREG/CR-4829, concluded that extremely few accidents would pose a significant radiation hazard to the public, concurring with previous NRC regulatory evaluations, namely NUREG-0170, that "indicate that the expected radiological consequences from the shipment of 3000 metric tons of spent fuel per year is less than 1 latent cancer fatality every 2300 years." Prepared for NRC by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and authored by Larry E. Fischer, et al. in 1987, the study has been criticised by opponents of the nuclear industry for it's methods and assumptions. (PDF 10M) The State of Nevada has questioned the studies conclusions regarding the safety of transporting Spent Nuclear Fuel to the proposed repository saying that "the Modal Study is a good start, but it is too simplistic, incomplete, outdated and open to serious question to be used as the basis for any present-day environmental or risk assessment of spent fuel transportation". The Modal Study itself was intended to answer questions that remained from a previous study. Sandia updated the Modal Study, with a new study referred to as Package Performance Study (PPS) an "Update of Spent Fuel Shipping Container Response to Severe Highway and Railway Accidents." (Website) They reexamined the methods and conclusions of the original study and went to lengths to attempt to address the concerns of it's critics.

NRC U.S.-Specific Schedules of Requirements for Transport of Specified Types of Radioactive Material Consignments (PDF 242K)

Examination by the Congressional Research Service in May of 1998 of the prior studies done by the NRC on the safety of transporting SNF, the methods used in arriving at the conclusions stated by these studies and the critics of the governments reports. The CRS prepared a report entitled Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel outlining the various points of view for the benefit of Congress members.

When the repository is ready to accept waste a huge increase in the number of shipments is expected from the current total 2,400 to 104,500 through 43 states and within a half mile of 50 million Americans. According to the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, of the 100 million packages shipped each year in the U.S. containing hazardous materials only 2% are radioactive materials and only 250,000 contain material resulting from the generation of nuclear power, the rest are medical and industrial materials. NEI points to the industry’s prior shipping experience of over 46 million packages of radioactive materials shipped, of which 3,453 were involved in accidents during the period since 1971.

The group Public Citizen makes the point that all it takes is one accident and describes the DOE’s study as part of the 1986 Environmental Assessment which outlines a rural accident with a release of 1,380 Ci which they determined “would contaminate an area of 42 square miles requiring 450 days and $620 million to clean up”. Since the consequences of an accident are so significant, and considering the inevitability of accidents in general, the NRC has placed a great deal of importance on the packaging of radioactive materials. The containers approved for use in shipping high level waste and spent fuel have been designed to survive accidents intact, and packaging for lower level material emphasizes sturdiness.

A range of packaging options is available depending upon the nature of the material to be shipped. Beginning with the least restrictive type, Excepted Packaging (EP) (Photo) is used for very slightly radioactive material such as smoke detectors or watch dials and generally consists of a fiberboard box or other type of package chosen for ease of handling. Excepted Packagings are designed to survive normal conditions of transport. Excepted packagings are used for transportation of materials that are either Low Specific Activity (LSA Definition ) or Surface Contaminated Objects (SCO Definition ) and that are limited quantity shipments, instruments or articles, articles manufactured from natural or depleted uranium or natural thorium; empty packagings are also excepted (49CFR 173.421-428). (Definition) For more specific information see NUREG 1608 (PDF 448K) NRCs "Categorizing and Transporting Low Specific Activity Materials and Surface Contaminated Objects"

Industrial Packagings (IP) (Photo) are used for materials that present a limited risk such as contaminated equipment or waste that has been solidified in a material such as concrete. There are three classes of IP based upon strength. IP 1 must meet design requirements of Excepted Packaging, IP 2 must pass free drop and stacking tests, and IP 3 must also pass the water spray and penetration tests required for Type A. Industrial Packingings (IP) are designed to survive normal conditions of transport (ip-1) and at least the DROP test and stacking test for Type A packingings (IP-2 and IP-3). Industrial packingings (IP) are used for transportation of materials with very small amounts of radioacitivity such as Low Specific Activity [LSA] or Surface Contaminated Objects [SCO] (Definitions). Industrial packingings (IP) are usually metal boxes or drums.

Type A Packagings (Photo) are used for materials such as radiopharmaceuticals and low level waste and have integral shielding and are designed to protect and retain their contents. There is an inner containment vessel of glass, plastic or metal and packaging material of polyethylene, rubber, or an absorbent such as vermiculite. Type A Packagings are designed to survive normal transportation, handling, and minor accidents. A minor accident is defined as "An accident that does not subject the radioactive material package to conditions that are more severe than those typically associated with transportation. A Type A package would not release its radioactive material contents if it was on a conveyance that was involved in a minor accident". They are used for the transportation of limited quantities of radioactive material (RAM) that would not result in significant health effects if they were released. Type B packagings are certified as Type A on the basis of performance requirements, which means it must survive certain tests. Type A packagings may be cardboard boxes, wooden crates, or drums. The shipper and carrier must have documentation of the certification of the packages being transported. (Definitions)

Type B Packagings (Photo) vary from 55 gallon drums to spent fuel casks. They are heavily shielded and are used to transport spent fuel, HLW, cobalt and cesium sources. Type B Packagings must be able to survive severe accidents. They are used for the transportation of large quantities of radioactive material. A Type B packaging may be a metal drum or a huge, massive shielded transport container. Type B packagings must meet severe accident performance standards that are considerably more rigorous than those required for Type A packages. Type B packagings either have a Certificate Of Compliance (COC)¹ The NRC certifies packages as being Type A or Type B on the basis of Safety Analysis Reports submitted by the package designer that demonstrate the package can withstand the tests specified by NRC and IAEA regulations for the package type. This is referred to as a Certificate of Compliance. by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or Certificate of Competent Authority (COCA)² A Certiticate of Competent Authority is given to packages that have a Competent Authority Certificate in a foreign country that are used for import or export from the United States. DOT reviews the foreign certificate to assure the package meets the requirements of the United States. by the Department of Transportation (DOT). (Definitions)

Strong Tight Packaging (Example) is used only for domestic shipment of low level material in a truck reserved for this purpose. Materials such as natural uranium or decommissioning rubble may use Strong Tight Packagings. The packages may consist of wood or metal boxes, steel drums, or bins. Large quantities of slightly contaminated rubble may be hauled in dump trucks

Rules for shipment of radioactive material are made by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the NRC under Title 49 and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations respectively. Additional regulatory oversight comes from the U.S. Postal Service, OSHA and the EPA. Shipments of Special Nuclear Materials are also covered under the International Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material signed at Vienna and New York on March, 3, 1980 to which the United States is a signatory. The Convention seeks to prevent sabotage, hijacking, theft, or diversion to prevent nuclear proliferation by setting standards to which the signatories and parties agree to abide. 108 nations are signatories or parties to the agreement. The Convention defines the nuclear materials it covers as Pu, U²³⁵, U²³³, and Irradiated Fuel and specifically recommends a number of measures to protect such material while it is in transit. These include limiting the time spent in transit, minimizing transfers, avoiding regular scheduling of shipments, security checks of those providing protection to the transport including armed guards, careful selection of route, continuous two way radio communication and search of vehicle prior to loading to detect sabotage devices. NUREG 1660, (PDF file. 241K) describes NRCs U.S.-Specific Schedules of Requirements for Transport of Specified Types of Radioactive Material Consignments.

In addition to packaging, the shipment of nuclear material requires appropriate marking, labeling and placarding of the individual containers and of the vehicle. The markings must provide the shipping name, identification number and shippers name and address. Labels index the hazard level of the material using one of three diamond shaped labels, Radioactive White I, Yellow II, or Yellow III. The label provides information about the contents and its handling. The Contents line identifies the contents, the Activity line gives the level of radioactivity in curies, and on Yellow II and III the Transport index states how many containers may be shipped together which is based upon the level of radiation 1 meter from the containers. (Definitions) Vehicles transporting certain types of materials must be marked with placards designed to identify their contents to first responders on all four sides of the vehicle. These are the same type of diamond shape placard placed on all hazardous cargo. Shipments of high level activity such as spent fuel are identified as High Route Controlled Quantity and must have a white square behind the placard and must use identified bypasses avoiding city centers were posted. This is termed preferred routing and restricts transport based on a variety of factors such as accident rate, population density, etc. A preferred route is an Interstate Highway or other route designated by the Department of Transportation. The entire route is mapped out in advance and written instructions and maps are given to the driver. It is the responsibility of the shipper to adhere to all regulations governing transportation of nuclear material.

The Department of Transportation has conducted a series of rather spectacular looking tests of transport casks, they have a video available that shows them burning casks in pools of aviation fuel, dropping them from 30 feet onto a hard surface, attempting to impale them on spikes and submerging them in 50 feet of water. (Illustration) Testing is done with both scale model and full size casks as well as computer simulations. They developed specifications for the casks, private industry built the models based upon these specifications and then DOT tests them. Each design that passes the tests, real or simulated, receives certification from the NRC. Shippers are required to use certified model casks. The NRC has certified a variety of casks for various purposes. The TN 8L by Transnuclear Inc., Certification Number USA/9015/B( )F can carry three PWR assemblies for transport by truck. It is stainless steel with lead, steel and resin shielding, 18 ½ feet long by 5 ½ feet in diameter and weighs 79,380 pounds empty. A similar model, the TN 9 is available for shipping seven BWR assemblies. They are classed as overweight truck casks for highway use. There are currently four casks available and they are used 30-50 times per year.

The NAC-LWT by NAC International, certification number USA/9225/B( )F can carry one PWR assembly or two BWR assemblies by truck. It is steel cased and lead shielded, 16 ½ feet long by 3 ½ feet in diameter and weighs 51,200 pounds loaded. It is classed as a legal weight truck cask. There are currently five casks available and they are used 30-50 times per year. The NL1-1/2 by NAC International, certification number USA/9010/B( )F can carry two BWR assemblies or one PWR assembly by truck. It is steel encased with lead and depleted uranium shielding, 16 ¼ feet long by 3 ¾ feet in diameter and weighs 49,250 pounds loaded. It is classed as a legal weight truck cask. There are currently five casks available and they are used 30-50 times per year. The IF-300 by General Electric, certification number 9001, can carry 7 PWR assemblies or 18 BWR assemblies by train. This 70 ton rail cask is 17 feet long by 5 ¼ feet in diameter and weighs 140,000 pounds when loaded. It is stainless steel encased, shielded by depleted uranium, stainless steel and water ethylene glycol solution. There are currently four casks available and they are used two times a month. The NAC-STC by NAC International can carry 26 PWR assemblies or 57 BWR assemblies. Certified for both storage and rail transport, it weighs 125 tons loaded. (Illustration)

The US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an independent agency created by Congress, points out that the current fleet of casks is sufficient for only 100-200 metric tons of spent fuel per year when spent fuel is being generated at the rate of 2,000 metric tons per year with an existing backlog at reactors sites of 35,000 metric tons. They note that before shipments to a repository could begin additional casks of larger capacity must be designed, manufactured, tested and certified. Several cask designs are in the process of being approved. The Hi-Star 100 cask by Holtec International has a capacity of 24 PWR or 68 BWR assemblies. It is designed to be used for storage as well as rail shipping. Another dual purpose cask, the Vectra MP-187 designed by Vectra Technologies will hold 24 PWR ASSEMBLIES. The DOE was working on a cask to be a multi purpose cask, called the MPC, which would be usable for storage, transportation and disposal. The plan was to produce the cask as a generic cask that could be used for repository disposal. There were to be two models, the smaller MPC 75 and the larger MPC 125. MPC 75 would hold 12 PWR or 24 BWR assemblies, MPC 125 would hold 21 PWR or 40 BWR assemblies. Westinghouse Electric was the contractor to design and produce the cask, however, at this point funding for the development of the MPC has been cut. The two casks would have been used for rail transport as the MPC 75 weighed 75 tons and the MPC 125 weighed 125 tons. The NRC has reviewed a high capacity truck cask by General Atomics, the GA4 and GA9 which would hold four PWR or nine BWR assemblies. The NRC has issued a certificate of compliance to General Atomics of San Diego, California, for the GA-4 Legal Weight Truck Spent Fuel Shipping Cask, designed to transport a variety of pressurized water reactor fuel types and is classified as a Type B(U) package. It can transport up to four irradiated spent fuel assemblies, each holding from 176 to 208 fuel rods from 128 to 145 inches long. Designed primarily of stainless steel, the cask is about 188 inches long and 40 inches in diameter. Maximum weight with contents is 27.5 tons. Since this is a legal-weight truck cask under Department of Transportation regulations, it would be able to travel on any highway in the United States. Loaded rail casks can weigh as much as 136 metric tons (150 tons); loaded truck casks can weigh up to 23 metric tons (26 tons).

Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, the DOE is required to use only casks that are certified by the NRC for transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to a repository. To certify a cask, the NRC requires a design to withstand a series of impact, puncture, and fire tests, thereby providing reasonable assurance that packages will withstand serious transportation accidents. 1 A cask design must demonstrate that it can and will protect against radiological release to the environment under the hypothetical accident conditions consecutively posed in a 9-meter (30-foot) free-fall on to an unyielding surface; a puncture test allowing the container to free-fall 1 meter (40 inches) onto a steel rod 15 centimeters (6 inches) in diameter; a 30-minute, all-engulfing fire at 800 degrees Celsius (1475 degrees Fahrenheit); and immersion under 0.9 meter (3 feet) of water. For casks designed to transport spent fuel, an additional hypothetical accident condition is required in which an undamaged package must be subjected to a one-hour immersion under 200 meters (655 feet) of water.