AIR SHIPMENT OF HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL FROM ROMANIA AND LIBYA
In June 2009 Romania successfully completed the world’s first air shipment of highly enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel transported in Type B(U) casks under existing international laws and without special exceptions for the air transport licenses. Special 20-foot ISO shipping containers and cask tiedown supports were designed to transport Russian TUK 19 shipping casks for the Romanian air shipment and the equipment was certified for all modes of transport, including road, rail, water, and air. In December 2009 Libya successfully used this same equipment for a second air shipment of HEU spent nuclear fuel. Both spent fuel shipments were transported by truck from the originating nuclear facilities to nearby commercial airports, were flown by commercial cargo aircraft to a commercial airport in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and then transported by truck to their final destinations at the Production Association Mayak facility in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Both air shipments were performed under the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program (RRRFR) as part of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI). The Romania air shipment of 23.7 kg of HEU spent fuel from the VVR S research reactor was the last of three HEU fresh and spent fuel shipments under RRRFR that resulted in Romania becoming the 3rd RRRFR participating country to remove all HEU. Libya had previously completed two RRRFR shipments of HEU fresh fuel so the 5.2 kg of HEU spent fuel air shipped from the IRT 1 research reactor in December made Libya the 4th RRRFR participating country to remove all HEU. This paper describes the equipment, preparations, and license approvals required to safely and securely complete these two air shipments of spent nuclear fuel.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NA
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 986935
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-10-17621; TRN: US1006548
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INMM 51st Annual Meeting, ,Baltimore, Maryland, USA,07/11/2010,07/15/2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AIR TRANSPORT
AIRCRAFT
AIRPORTS
CARGO
CASKS
CONTAINERS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
INTERNATIONAL LAWS
LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR FUELS
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH REACTORS
ROMANIA
SECURITY
SPENT FUELS
TRANSPORT
Air shipment
Air shipment of spent nuclear fuel
Global Threat Reduction Initiative
GTRI
HEU
Highly enriched uranium
Libya
Research reactor
Romania
RRRFR
Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program
SNF
Spent nuclear fuel