An analysis of the background and development of regulations for the air transport of plutonium in the USA
Several aspects of special packagings of plutonium for air transport should be recognized. The accident cases cited by Congressman Scheuer were incidents of local plutonium contamination in military aircraft accidents that had nuclear weapons on board. There is no disputing the occurrence of these military accidents but military weapon shipments were exempted from the provisions of the Scheuer amendment. There have been no recorded civilian aircraft crashes involving plutonium dispersal although there have been civilian aircraft crashes that were severe. Shortly after the introduction of the amendment by Mr. Scheuer on June 20, 1975, there was a serious aircraft crash at JFK International. In his remarks to the House on July 24, 1975 Mr. Scheuer called attention to this event. The NRC originally opposed the provisions of the Scheuer amendment but with the passing of the amendment NRC compiled with its provisions. This led to the development of the plutonium air transport package PAT-1 in the US. The introduction of special rules for the air transport of plutonium into the US packaging regulations has been made them more severe than the provision of the international regulations, IAEA Safety Series 6. The IAEA is now discussing proposed regulations related to the air transport of plutonium. An additional legislative action was introduced the US in December 1987 which would require actual crash tests of packages intended for the air transport of plutonium, the Murkowski amendment. 13 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6209329
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-89-0921C; CONF-890631-27; ON: DE89012640
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International symposium on packaging and transporting of radioactive materials, Washington, DC, USA, 11 Jun 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACCIDENTS
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
CONTAINERS
STANDARDS
PLUTONIUM
TRANSPORT
COMPLIANCE
EVALUATION
REGULATIONS
ACTINIDES
ELEMENTS
METALS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
056000 - Nuclear Fuels- Legislation & Regulations- (1987-)