Surface Contamination of Nuclear Spent Fuel Shipments

Abstract

Following the discovery of non-fixed radioactive contamination on spent fuel flasks and associated transport equipment in France, an ad hoc bilateral working group of the competent regulatory authorities was set up by agreement between the German Minister for the Environment, Mrs Angela Merkel, and the French Minister for the Environment, Mrs Dominique Voynet, on 26 May 1998. On 2 June 1998, a constituent meeting of the German, French and now Swiss competent regulatory authorities convened the working group on radioactive contamination in Cologne, Germany. The United Kingdom joined the working group at its second meeting in Paris on 22 June 1998. The working group had the task to ensure a coordinated cooperation of the experts to establish the causes and effects of the contamination incidents and propose appropriate action. This report, agreed at the fifth meeting of the working group in Paris on 24 October 1998, is a compilation of information collected from all four countries, setting out the history of the events, their causes and consequences. The report goes on to describe remedial actions which have already been put in place, those that are being considered, and makes recommendations for future actions.