Nuclear waste cargo ship departs for Japan
The programme of returning solid highly active waste (HAW) from the UK to Japan has continued today with the departure of the purpose-built vessel, Pacific Grebe, carrying the transport of the second consignment of HAW from Sellafield.
Three transport flasks, containing 76 canisters of HAW, have departed Sellafield site by rail bound for the port of Barrow-in-Furness, before being transported by sea from to Japan. The vessel that will be used will be the Pacific Grebe, owned by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL), a subsidiary of International Nuclear Services (INS).
The vessel’s route will be via the Panama Canal and the approximate time of arrival will be in the first half of September 2011.
Matt Fox, head of marine operations at INS, said: “The UK-leg of this transport was completed successfully thanks to excellent partnership working between Sellafield Ltd, INS, supported by British Transport Police, Cumbria Constabulary and the port of Barrow-in-Furness.”
Will Watson, Sellafield Ltd’s programme manager for Vitrified Residue Returns, said: “The programme of returns reduces the amount of foreign owned waste in the UK, fulfils government policy and also contractual commitments on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
“It’s the latest milestone in Sellafield Ltd’s mission to make the site cleaner, safer and more productive.”
The waste arises from the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel at Sellafield for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Japanese customers. HAW is therefore being returned to customers in accordance with contractual obligations and UK government policy. Current UK policy states that waste arising from contracts for reprocessing signed with overseas customers since 1976 is to be returned to the customer of origin.
The transport flasks in which the HAW is contained are extremely robust and are designed, tested and modelled to exceed the very robust standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. They weigh approximately 130 tonnes when loaded, about 90% of which is dedicated to ensuring safety, with the remainder being waste.
For more details, please contact Ben Todd at INS:
T: 01925 832655
M: 07738 039640
E: ben.todd@innuserv.com
Editor’s notes
• INS is the world’s leading global transporter of nuclear materials and has a world class safety record with more than 40 years and five million miles travelled without any incident involving the release of radioactivity
• INS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UK Government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
• INS has three roles:
it is the NDA’s commercial agent tasked with managing existing fuel cycle contracts that the NDA has with customers as well as developing new business to gain maximum value from the NDA’s assets
it provides transport solutions for customers around the world, from joining together the different parts of the nuclear fuel cycle to providing a vital secure transport link in global non-proliferation efforts
it provides nuclear fuel cycle, licensing, transport package and logistics consultancy services to customers
• INS is the majority shareholder in Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd, whose other shareholders include Areva NC and Japanese electric power companies and trading companies.
• INS employs around 145 people and has offices in Warrington and West Cumbria in the UK, as well as in Germany, France and Japan. Barrow Marine Terminal has been the home port of PNTL since 1969
• The PNTL fleet currently consists of the Pacific Heron, Pacific Egret, and Pacific Grebe, all of which are classed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as INF3 vessels
• INS also operates an NDA vessel called Oceanic Pintail, an INF3 vessel. It also operates the Atlantic Osprey, which is a multi-purpose cargo carrier and is classed as an INF2 vessel, which means it is licensed to carry smaller quantities of nuclear materials
• The INF code is the international code for the safe carriage of packaged Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, plutonium, and high-level radioactive waste on board ships. It defines three classes of ships, depending on the total radioactivity of cargo which is carried on board:
INF 1 ship: Ships which are certified to carry INF cargo with an aggregate activity less than 4x103 TBq (TeraBecquerel = measurement of radioactivity).
INF 2 ship: Ships which are certified to carry irradiated nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive wastes with an aggregate activity less than 2x106 TBq and ,ships which are certified to carry plutonium with an aggregate activity less than 2x105 TBq.
INF 3 ship: Ships which are certified to carry irradiated nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive wastes and ships which are certified to carry plutonium with no restriction of the maximum aggregate activity of the materials.
