United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 99-253

November 30, 1999

NRC SCHEDULES MEETINGS IN NEVADA TO DISCUSS PERFORMANCE

OF SPENT FUEL TRANSPORTATION CASKS IN ACCIDENTS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled meetings December 8-9, in

Henderson and Pahrump, Nevada, to seek public comments on an upcoming study of the

performance of spent nuclear fuel transportation casks in accidents.

The agency would like to hear public views on those aspects of transportation safety

that they believe are the most important. There will be an opportunity for discussion of testing

and computer simulation of casks, the possibility of highway or railway accidents, cask

performance during collisions and fires, and behavior of transported fuel in accidents.

Over the next few years, the NRC will evaluate the performance of spent fuel

transportation packages. A similar study was performed in 1987 and was commonly known as

the “modal study.” A number of things have changed since that time:

ˇ The number of spent fuel shipments from nuclear power plants is likely to increase if a

centralized spent fuel storage facility or a high-level waste repository, such as the one

proposed at Yucca Mountain, begins operating;

ˇ The industry is developing new spent fuel transportation cask designs;

ˇ Sophisticated computer analytical tools have been developed which can now assess

accident scenarios and consequences in great detail;

ˇ Accident statistics have changed since the first study was done in the mid 1980's.

Previous NRC studies to assess the robustness of the casks relied on professional

judgment and computer analyses, but no actual physical testing. For this upcoming study,

testing is an option, and the agency would like to have public views as to the need, importance

or types of physical tests they believe should be performed.

Historically, spent fuel shipments in NRC certified casks have an excellent safety record

-- approximately 1300 spent fuel shipments have been made since 1971, with no radiological

releases to the environment from accidents.

Spent nuclear fuel is transported by truck or rail in heavy metal casks. NRC requires

that the cask designs withstand a sequential series of tests to ensure their ability to withstand a

range of accidents. They are evaluated for a 30-foot drop onto an unyielding surface, a drop

onto a vertical steel bar, a fully engulfing 30-minute fire, and finally, immersion in water.
The meeting on December 8 will be held at the Henderson Convention Center, at 200

Water Street, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. An evening seminar will also be held from 7:00

until 9:30 p.m. The daytime session will meet in a roundtable format with participants from

citizen and environmental groups, nuclear industry, state, tribal and local governments, and

academia. The evening seminar will be held in a “town hall” format to discuss NRC’s role in

ensuring transportation safety, and to hear views from interested members of the public.

A similar meeting was held earlier this month in Bethesda, Maryland.

An additional seminar on December 9 in Pahrump, will be held at the Mountain View

Casino and Bowl, at 1750 Pahrump Valley Road, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, and will also adopt

a “town hall” format.

All of the meetings are open to the public.

Copies of the original modal study, entitled “Shipping Container Response to Severe

Highway and Railway Accident Conditions,” (NUREG/CR-4829), and a brochure entitled

“Transporting Spent Fuel” (NUREG/BR-0111), which describes the results and conclusions of

the modal study, are available from the Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082,

Washington, D.C., 20402-9328; telephone 202-512-1800.

Those wishing to obtain other background material and a detailed meeting agenda, can

do so on the internet, at http://ttd.sandia.gov/nrc/modal.htm

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