About three million packages containing radioactive material are transported in the United States every year, and multiple federal agencies work together to ensure the shipments are safe. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission addresses the design and use of packaging, for example, the Department of Transportation oversees shipments.

Amidst growing prominence of microreactors and other nuclear technologies, the NRC has issued a proposed rule to address how to safely transport new nuclear reactors and their associated radioactive material.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has drafted a programmatic agreement (PA) on the decommissioning the NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship. Christened in 1959 under President Dwight Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace initiative, which challenged world leaders to develop peaceful uses of nuclear power, the ship served as a demonstration project for the potential maritime use of nuclear energy.