nuclear transports

DURING the week beginning July 12th, two ships carrying a secret cargo of dangerous, nuclear weapons-usable plutonium fuel will leave ports in Britain and France and sail around the globe to Japan. On board will be fuel containing more plutonium than in the entire Indian nuclear weapons program.

On the 21st of July, two ships carrying a cargo of dangerous, weapons-usable plutonium fuel left Europe to sail around the globe, via Cape of Good Hope and the South West Pacific Ocean, to Japan. On board is nuclear fuel containing more nuclear weapons usable material than in the entire Indian and Pakistan nuclear weapons programmes.

Report 8 (136k)

Every 'package' containing radioactive material for transportation is subjected to a range of tests laid down by the IAEA. The aim of the tests is to ensure that the necessary safeguards are built into the design of the flask, and the conditions under which it is transported, so that it will withstand severe accident conditions without presenting a significant radiological hazard...

Report 7 (135k)

With the spent fuel placed in the transport flasks and ready to be dispatched to Sellafield, the regulations governing the transport then come into play. There are a bewildering range of rules and regulations...

AGR Flask with skip to hold assemblies upright and a pair of Magnox flasks from Japan, with shock absorber collars.

Standard Magnox fuel comes in the form of a rod measuring approximately 1 metre long, 5 centimetres in diameter and weighing between 10-12 kilogrammes. The fuel rod is contained in a casing fabricated from magnesium alloy, hence the name Magnox. Prior to dispatch to Sellafield, and with the 'fins' mechanically removed, the rods are transferred from the power station cooling pond to an open-top fuel skip which is then fitted into the transport flask.