Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kallenbach-Herbert, B.
• Lange, F.

Titel

Developments in Transport of Spent Fuel in Germany - Measures for Contamination Protection

Ist Teil von

• Packaging, transport, storage & security of radioactive material, 2005-01, Vol.16 (1), p.27-34

Ort / Verlag

Taylor & Francis

Erscheinungsjahr

2005

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Following the detection in 1998 of contamination on the surfaces of transport flasks for spent fuel and on railcars the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) established 10 criteria for the resumption of spent fuel transport to avoid contamination problems in the future. To fulfil these criteria German nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the reprocessing plants of COGEMA, France, and BNFL, UK, developed certain actions and measures and identified a number of key parameters which required formal agreement. On this basis transport operations were resumed in Germany in April 2001 encompassing (i) additional protection measures for flask surfaces during loading and unloading under water, (ii) common measurement standards for contamination controls and an enhanced number of such measurements during each transport cycle, (iii) improved documentation of contamination measurement results and of technical measures during flask handling and (iv) organisational measures to clearly define competencies and responsibilities within the NPPs and among the parties involved and to improve the associated communication. About 3 y after the resumption of transport operations the additional measures are proving to be successful: no real contamination event has occurred during this entire period. The reports on experiences issued by German NPPs and by the reprocessing plants in 2002/2003 mention no relevant difficulties arising from the additional measures. However, with regard to the number of contamination measurements, some modifications have been suggested and a reduced contamination control programme for 'routine transports' was developed in accordance with the BMU criteria. According to German legal requirements transport of spent fuel to reprocessing plants has to end by 30 June 2005. On these grounds, and based on the positive experiences, most German NPPs decided not to apply for any relevant modifications. Furthermore, experience shows that the additional collective doses to personnel were in fact not as high as anticipated, due to the enhanced measures and contamination controls, and did not therefore require substantial changes. It can be concluded that the system of improvements introduced was successful in avoiding the contamination problem.