w orld n uclear t ransport i nstitute south australian nuclear royal commission topic 14:...

WORLD NUCLEAR TRANSPORT INSTITUTE

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South Australian Nuclear Royal Commission

Topic 14: Transportation of Radioactive Materials

Case Study – Australian UOC shipment

Frank Boulton

Class 7 International Pty Ltd

Australasian representative for the World Nuclear Transport Institute

November 17th 2015


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We all enjoy the use of Class 7 materials

Throughout our daily life we all have access to and can enjoy benefits derived from the application of radioactive and nuclear materials across the:

health and medical industry

manufacturing, engineering, construction related industries

electric power generation industry

Class 7 is simply one of nine classes of Dangerous Goods


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Framework for the transport of radioactive materials

Governed by a stringent regulatory regime involving standards, codes and regulations

continuously revised and updated over the past five decades

UN adopts the IAEA guidance on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

the IAEA Transport Regulations for RAM apply almost everywhere in the world

a set of recommended regulatory standards covering international transport activities involving RAM

Supplementary guidance documents contain advisory and explanatory material

describing the reason for the regulations, their purpose along with information explaining how to comply with the regulations

Additional guidance documents provide practical advice about

transport management systems and plans and response to transport incidents

development of radiation protection programs, and compliance assurance programmes


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Assessment of material to be transported

Material to be transportedISO with drums

Is the material radioactive (above 1Bq/g) YES

Does the 10 times transport exemption apply? NO

Is the consignment an Excepted Package (para. 516)

NO

Total Activity Th232 (and 10 decay products) (Bq/g)

2000.0

Total Activity U (and 14 decay products) (Bq/g) 402.5

Total Activity U and Th plus decay products (Bq/g) 2402.5

TI Multiplication Factor from Table 7 3

Transport Index 11.2

Does the TI of the package call for “exclusive use” YES

Category of package as per table 8III

YELLOW

Description bq/gm ppm U ppm Th

Radioactive material limit 1 80 240

Transport Exemption limit 10 800 2400

Material to be transportedISO with drums

Quantity of material in the package kg 18,000

Largest cross-sectional area of package in square metres

15.74

ppm ThO2 48,000

ppm U 2,300

Max gamma dose rate* at surface (uSv/h) 81.30

Max gamma dose rate* at 1m (uSv/h) 37.40

Material contains natural Uranium and Thorium (YES / NO)

YES

Activity in Th232 decay chain (Bq/g) 200.0

Activity in U238 decay chain (Bq/g) 28.8

Activity in U235 decay chain (Bq/g) 1.15

Weighted avg of U and Th (Head of chain) Bq/g 228.8

Transport exemption (10* factor) 22.88

Is the material LSA-1 (para.409) YES

*The above gamma dose rates have been estimated using first principles based on a 20 foot ISO shipping container having dimensions of 6m x 2.6m x 2.4m loaded with 20 tonnes of material. As such these measurements MUST be confirmed by in field measurements


Slide

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Filling of drums


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Detailed manifest information

Comprises detailed drum and batch related information for each shipping container

details in green flow through to summarised delivery and container packing list

manifest also provides radiation dose rate information for each drum


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Detailed manifest information

Provides a singular overview of the total quantity of RAM packed in each shipping container

information in green flows to the Multimodal DG form, yellow for safeguards transfer

the manifest also provides radiation dose rate information per shipping container


Slide

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Securing of drums in shipping containers


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Some examples of container packing

205 litre re-sealable steel drums secured in 20’ ISO containers shipped as full container loads under exclusive use


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Inspection of shipping containers pre and post packing

Container inspection is an important process exacerbated by increased focus on Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) compliance

and United States Customs Trade Protection Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) requirements

addresses IMDG multimodal requirements and obligations


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Straight forward safeguards and export approval processes

Apply for ASNO safeguards transfer of RAM simple form, by email

Apply for DIS export of strategic commodity simple spreadsheet format, by email

Receive approvals from both parties notification by email

Lodge export declaration with ACS standard customs cargo clearance, lodged electronically

Notify safeguards after vessel departs with cargo on board simple email, then track and monitor through to final destination

safeguards reconciliation following agreement of assay exchange


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Multimodal Dangerous Goods Form

Form covers all road, rail and ocean transport

Delivery information standardised shipping details

DG, Hazmat related information includes emergency and incident response

Packing declaration legally enforceable document

Stowage on vessel


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Vessel departs


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Monitoring of cargo from mine site to final overseas destination

tracking and tracing of cargo is monitored by Consignor reporting to ASNO

Mine site

Final overseasdestination

Overseastransport

Overseasdischarge port

On the waterTransshipment

PortOn the water

Point of ExportLocal transport


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Minor scrape of container packed with UOC

Bumps and scrapes often occur during temporary in-transit storage


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Damage to container packed with UOC


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Damage to container packed with UOC

w orld n uclear t ransport i nstitute south australian nuclear royal commission topic 14:...

Documents

transport index11

times transport exemption

transport management

nuclear materials

material radioactive

total activity u

assessment of material

material lsa