- Experience, planning, and preparedness
- Coordinated efforts among federal and local officials
- Over the last 40 years, 3,000 shipments on spent nuclear fuel have navigated more than 1.7 million miles of US roads and railways.
- Every shipment is carefully tracked and monitored along public routes that must meet strict safety requirements.
- Well designed and thoroughly tested containers
- Shipping packages, or casks, are designed according to rigorous standards established by the Department of Transportation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- The casks are about 15 times thicker than a gasoline tank truck shell and they include three inches of stainless steel with thick lead radiation shields.
- Typically, for every ton of fuel, there are more than three tons of protective packaging and shielding.
- Coordinated efforts among federal and local officials
- The DOT identifies "preferred routes," of interstate highways and bypass routes around cities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves all transportation security plans.
- Satellite tracking of all shipped casks is utilized to ensure location, and the dates of shipments are not publicized.
- Experienced, specially licensed trucking companies handle spent nuclear fuel shipments, in addition to many other hazardous materials, in the United States.
Last updated July 9, 2012, 12:56pm CDT.
