ANSTO’s shipment of 344 spent nuclear fuel elements that left Sydney on 27th October 2003, arrived safely in France today for reprocessing at La Hague, plant of the Compagnie Generale des Materies Nucleaire (COGEMA).
The spent fuel represents nine years of ANSTO’s research reactor operations, during which time approximately four million patient treatments for nuclear medicine were produced.
The shipment was securely packed in reinforced casks that have been extensively tested to withstand a range of events and transported in a special purpose cargo ship – the Fret Moselle – that is designed to carry radioactive material.
This is the third shipment that the COGEMA-La Hague facility will process under a contract signed by ANSTO and COGEMA in January, 1999.
The transportation of the fuel follows a Federal Government decision in September 1997 to ship all used fuel overseas for reprocessing.