Spent fuel shipment departing for France

Prior to the end of the year a shipment of spent fuel will depart for France for re-processing, various councils were advised by ANSTO today.


“As a courtesy to the local residents, ANSTO has informed relevant councils and politicians that a convoy of trucks containing securely contained spent fuel elements may be passing through their areas in the near future,” announced ANSTO Acting Executive Director, Dr Ron Cameron.


“The exact timing and route of the convoy, and the point of departure of the ship taking the spent fuel to France, will not be disclosed for obvious security reasons,” Dr Cameron continued.


The solid spent fuel elements will travel to France in a special purpose cargo ship designed to carry radioactive material. The elements will be safely and securely packed in casks that have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they cannot be ruptured, even in the most severe event.


“The shipment will be conducted under strict international and national security and safety standards,” emphasised Dr Cameron.


ANSTO is working closely with NSW Police, regulatory body ARPANSA and other relevant parties to prepare for this shipment.


“The level of radioactivity detectible outside the heavily shielded casks is very low,” said Dr Cameron. “For example, if you stood next to a cask for one week, 24 hours a day, you’d only receive half the amount of radiation you would be exposed to in a year from naturally occurring sources.”


Since 1963 five shipments of ANSTO’s spent fuel have travelled to various places around the world without incident. This is the sixth shipment. Internationally since 1971, there have been over 7,000 shipments of spent fuel. There has never been an incident that resulted in the release of radioactivity.


The transportation of the fuel follows a Federal Government decision in September 1997 not to establish a reprocessing facility at Lucas Heights but instead to ship all used fuel overseas.


“The shipment is part of planned process of meeting the expressed desires of the local community for the reduction of spent fuel stored at our Lucas Heights site,” said Dr Cameron.


“Environment Australia, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) have each approved arrangements for the shipment,” concluded Dr Cameron.

Published: 20/10/2003

Recent articles

See all »

Media enquiry form

If you have a media enquiry please call
Phil McCall: +61 438 619 987

Or

Send »

Please provide us with your name, phone number and
email so we can get back to you.

Error: Enquiry was not sent! Check all fields have been populated correctly.
Success: Enquiry was sent successfully.