Media Release

23 January 2001

ANSTO passes milestone in removal of spent reactor fuel from Lucas Heights (See also ANSTO Briefing)

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, ANSTO, last night continued its program of safely removing more than 40 years of research reactor spent fuel from its Lucas Heights site.

The spent fuel is a product of the HIFAR reactor, which has been the foundation of Australia’s nuclear medicine capability as well as having numerous technology, research and development applications. HIFAR has 25 fuel elements in its core at any given time, and uses around 37 fuel elements annually.

A shipment of 360 of these used fuel elements was loaded safely at Port Botany onto a special purpose vessel for transportation to the La Hague, France, plant of Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nucleaire, COGEMA.

According to ANSTO Chief Executive Officer, Professor Helen Garnett, this was the fifth shipment of spent fuel from Lucas Heights and the third since September 1997, when the Commonwealth Government announced it would provide funding to ANSTO to ship overseas its inventory of spent fuel. With this shipment more than half the spent fuel arising over the entire lifetime of the HIFAR reactor has now been sent overseas.

"It’s important to understand that the shipment is part of a planned process aimed at meeting the expressed desires of the local community for the reduction in spent fuel stored at the Lucas Heights site," Professor Garnett said.

The shipments made previously were:

1963: 150 spent fuel elements to Dounreay, Scotland. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â» April 1996: 114 spent fuel elements, also to Dounreay, Scotland. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â» May 1998: 240 fuel elements were sent to the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River site, Georgia. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»

November 1999: 308 fuel elements were shipped to La Hague, France, for reprocessing. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»

Last night’s shipment was the second made under the terms of a contract signed by ANSTO and COGEMA in January 1999.

The spent fuel removal program also includes continuing repatriation of elements of US origin to the United States.

Between them, these two arrangements provide for the disposition of all the spent fuel arising from the operations of HIFAR, up to and including its permanent shutdown, scheduled for 2005/6.

Environment Australia, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian Safeguards and Non Proliferation Office, and Australia’s nuclear regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, ARPANSA, each approved arrangements for the shipment.

Co-ordination and consultation was also required with an extensive number of Commonwealth and New South Wales authorities. The shipment met all international, national and State standards, conventions and legislation regarding the transportation of radioactive materials. Such materials are routinely transported throughout the world on a daily basis.

ANSTO currently has an inventory of around 850 used fuel elements. About 450 are of United States origin.

Details:

ANSTO’s used research reactor elements are each 600 mm long and 100 mm in diameter. Each contains about 150 grams of uranium, which is alloyed with aluminium. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»

In the largest individual shipment to date, the 360 used fuel elements are being transported in five custom-built, heavily shielded transport casks. They were loaded with the used fuel underwater at ANSTO, drained, vacuum dried and hermetically sealed.

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Each was then placed within a specially strengthened approved shipping container and transported by Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»

road to a special purpose ship, which carries no other cargo, at Port Botany for non-stop transport to France.

The transport of radioactive materials, including the used fuel element shipment by ANSTO, is governed by the provisions of the "Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material" issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations organisation based in Vienna.

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The amount of radioactivity detectable on the outside of the heavily shielded transport casks is extremely small. By remaining constantly in the vicinity of the cask 24 hours a day for a week a person would be exposed to only half the amount of radiation they receive from natural sources in a year.

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The route for the transport to a Sydney wharf was along major Sydney suburban roadways, with the precise route and timing decided by the NSW Police Service. In keeping with international conventions - to which Australia is a party and which, amongst other objectives are designed to protect the public -route details and timing for the shipment were not published in advance.

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Packaging:

Type B packages, the type used by ANSTO, must be able to withstand the effects of a severe accident without releasing their radioactive contents. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»Ã¯Â¿Â»

They must meet stringent leak tightness provisions and satisfy mechanical then a thermal test and then a water immersion test. There are also drop tests that must be met, one from a height of nine metres onto an unyielding surface, and a puncture test onto a steel bar.

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The thermal test subjects the package to a hydrocarbon fuel/air fire with an average flame temperature of 800 degrees C for 30 minutes. The water test is that the package be immersed under a head of water of at least 15 metres for a period of not less than eight hours, and at 200 metres for at least one hour.

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Type B packages have survived some extreme tests, the most spectacular being a British demonstration in which a diesel locomotive pulling three carriages was smashed into a nuclear fuel cask at 165 kilometres/hour. The cask suffered only minor damage and no significant leakage. The locomotive was destroyed!

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ENDS

Media Contact: Pam Keenan, ANSTO Communications Manager, 9717 3770 or 0418 284 813

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