[NukeNet] Scotland: Cardboard boxes used to transport nuclear materials'

[The Roy Process]

Sunday Heraldhttp://www.sundayherald.com/58502
      Sunday Herald - 15 October 2006 
      'Cardboard boxes used to transport nuclear materials'
      By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor 


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      THE packaging for shipments of radioactive materials across the UK is so poor it could breach safety regulations, putting the environment and public health at risk. 
      A nuclear industry safety adviser has revealed that radioactive materials are often transported by hospitals and factories in "secondhand cardboard boxes" and other "dubious packages". 

      There are about half a million movements of radioactive materials by road, rail or air every year in the UK. About 300,000 of them are low-level isotopes for medical, industrial or research purposes, known in the trade as "excepted packages". 

      But, according to Phil McNamara, dangerous goods safety adviser for British Energy, the rules for transporting such packages are open to misinterpretation and in dire need of reform. 

      "One can get - and often sees - a great deal of confusion," he said. "Many hours are spent trying to achieve compliance through sets of unclear, and occasionally contradictory, regulations." 

      Shipments are made in a large variety of containers, some of which are "barely compliant, if at all". There is a "profusion of cardboard boxes and wooden crates", he warned. 

      Such "cheap and cheerful" packages would not be accepted by the public in the event of an accident, McNamara argued. There was also a risk that drivers would not be properly trained. 

      "The concern is that it will be difficult to provide the duty of care that the public expects in transporting radio-active materials, when drivers may not be fully conversant with what they are carrying," he said. 

      Excepted packages are covered by 14 general conditions designed to ensure that the radioactive material is transported "easily and safely". The packages have to be easy to decontaminate, and those taken by air have to withstand pressure differentials. 

      But the rules for excepted packages are much less strict than for packages containing higher levels of radioactivity. The transport costs are consequently much lower, which puts pressure on companies and public agencies to send excepted packages wherever possible. 

      "There is much evidence that items are 'made to fit' the excepted package criteria," alleged McNamara. He called for "more joined-up thinking," including a "rethink" of the regulations and a new code of practice for excepted packages. His comments came in an article in the technical journal Packaging, Transport, Storage And Security Of Radioactive Material. 

      More than 800 accidents involving the transport of radioactive materials have been officially recorded in the UK since 1958. According to a report by the government's Health Protection Agency (HPA) in July, in 19 of them people suffered serious radiation doses, mostly due to "improperly packaged" materials in the 1970s. "Packages that are damaged or poorly prepared can have radiological consequences for people in the vicinity," said an HPA spokesman. 

      However, he added, there was no evidence that packages prepared in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) transport regulations underperformed. 

      British Energy, which runs nuclear power stations at Torness in East Lothian and Hunterston in North Ayrshire, said the regulations were robust but "would benefit from being made clearer". 

      But McNamara's demand for reform was unequivocally backed by environmental groups. 

      "The call for regulations to be tightened up should be heeded and soon," said Duncan McLaren, of Friends of the Earth Scotland. 



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      Copyright © 2006 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088 
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