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South Australian Nuclear Royal Commission
Topic 14: Transportation of Radioactive Materials
Case Study – Australian UOC shipment
Frank Boulton
Class 7 International Pty Ltd
Australasian representative for the World Nuclear Transport Institute
November 17th 2015
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We all enjoy the use of Class 7 materials
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Throughout our daily life we all have access to and can enjoy benefits derived from the application of radioactive and nuclear materials across the:
 health and medical industry
 manufacturing, engineering, construction related industries
 electric power generation industry
Class 7 is simply one of nine classes of Dangerous Goods
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Framework for the transport of radioactive materials
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Governed by a stringent regulatory regime involving standards, codes and regulations
 continuously revised and updated over the past five decades
UN adopts the IAEA guidance on the Transport of Dangerous Goods
 the IAEA Transport Regulations for RAM apply almost everywhere in the world
 a set of recommended regulatory standards covering international transport activities involving
RAM
Supplementary guidance documents contain advisory and explanatory material
 describing the reason for the regulations, their purpose along with information explaining how to comply with the regulations
Additional guidance documents provide practical advice about
 transport management systems and plans and response to transport incidents
 development of radiation protection programs, and compliance assurance programmes
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Assessment of material to be transported
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Material to be transported
Quantity of material in the package kg
Largest cross-sectional area of package in square metres ppm ThO2 ppm U
Max gamma dose rate* at surface (uSv/h)
Max gamma dose rate* at 1m (uSv/h)
Material contains natural Uranium and Thorium (YES / NO)
Activity in Th232 decay chain (Bq/g)
Activity in U238 decay chain (Bq/g)
Activity in U235 decay chain (Bq/g)
Weighted avg of U and Th (Head of chain) Bq/g
Transport exemption (10* factor)
Is the material LSA-1 (para.409)
ISO with drums
18,000
15.74
48,000
2,300
81.30
37.40
YES
200.0
28.8
1.15
228.8
22.88
YES
Material to be transported
Is the material radioactive (above 1Bq/g)
Does the 10 times transport exemption apply?
Is the consignment an Excepted Package (para. 516)
Total Activity Th232 (and 10 decay products) (Bq/g)
Total Activity U (and 14 decay products) (Bq/g)
Total Activity U and Th plus decay products (Bq/g)
TI Multiplication Factor from Table 7
Transport Index
Does the TI of the package call for “exclusive use”
Category of package as per table 8
Description
Radioactive material limit
Transport Exemption limit bq/gm
1
10 ppm U
80
800
ISO with drums
YES
NO
NO
2000.0
402.5
2402.5
3
11.2
YES
III YELLOW ppm Th
240
2400
*The above gamma dose rates have been estimated using first principles based on a 20 foot ISO shipping container having dimensions of 6m x 2.6m x 2.4m loaded with 20 tonnes of material. As such these measurements MUST be confirmed by in field measurements
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Filling of drums
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Detailed manifest information
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Comprises detailed drum and batch related information for each shipping container
 details in green flow through to summarised delivery and container packing list manifest also provides radiation dose rate information for each drum
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Detailed manifest information
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Provides a singular overview of the total quantity of RAM packed in each shipping container
 information in green flows to the Multimodal DG form, yellow for safeguards transfer the manifest also provides radiation dose rate information per shipping container
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Securing of drums in shipping containers
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Some examples of container packing
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205 litre resealable steel drums secured in 20’ ISO containers shipped as full container loads under exclusive use
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Inspection of shipping containers pre and post packing
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Container inspection is an important process
 exacerbated by increased focus on Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) compliance and United States Customs Trade Protection Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) requirements
 addresses IMDG multimodal requirements and obligations
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Straight forward safeguards and export approval processes
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Apply for ASNO safeguards transfer of RAM
 simple form, by email
Apply for DIS export of strategic commodity
 simple spreadsheet format, by email
Receive approvals from both parties
 notification by email
Lodge export declaration with ACS
 standard customs cargo clearance, lodged electronically
Notify safeguards after vessel departs with cargo on board
 simple email, then track and monitor through to final destination
 safeguards reconciliation following agreement of assay exchange
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Multimodal Dangerous Goods Form
Form covers all road, rail and ocean transport
Delivery information
 standardised shipping details
DG, Hazmat related information
 includes emergency and incident response
Packing declaration
 legally enforceable document
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Stowage on vessel
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Vessel departs
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Monitoring of cargo from mine site to final overseas destination
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Minor scrape of container packed with UOC
Bumps and scrapes often occur during temporary in-transit storage
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Damage to container packed with UOC
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Damage to container packed with UOC
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