WRITTEN QUESTION E-1561/97 by Ben Fayot (PSE) to the Commission (6 May 1997)

Subject: Safety of shipments of nuclear materials

Has the Commission's standing working party on the safety of shipments of radioactive materials already examined the incident on 4 February 1997 in which a train carrying nuclear waste from Lingen (D) to Sellafield (UK) via Apach (F) was derailed in Apach?

If so, what conclusions has the working party drawn from this incident?

In particular, does the Commission intend to harmonize information on the containers used for such shipments, so that the consequences of any future incident can be rapidly assessed?

Does the Commission not intend to call upon those responsible for such shipments, which constitute a serious risk for the inhabitants of the regions along the route they take, to select the most direct and/or least dangerous routes?

Finally, as the Commission is organizing a regular assessment of the safety of nuclear shipments, together with representatives of the industry and experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), can it say what conclusions it has drawn from this evaluation so far?

Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission (30 June 1997)

At the 26th meeting of the standing working group on safe transport of radioactive material on 27 May 1997 the Commission and the Member States were informed of the safety review following the derailment at Apach on 4 February 1997. The analysis was presented by the technical support organisation (IPSN) of the French ministry of transport. It confirms the information given by the Commission in reply to the questions P-527/97 by Mr Weber and P-528/97 by Mrs Breyer ((OJ C 319, 18.10.1997, p. 101. )).

In the meantime expert appraisal has revealed that a pre-existing small defect in the rail with horizontal propagation over a length of approximately 450 mm caused the failure. Rails used at high velocity are inspected by ultrasonic techniques. Rails used in normal service at lower speed, such as at Apach, are controlled by visual inspections. The propagation of the defect horizontally by fatigue or brittle fraction provoked a break in the rail with the derailment of one wagon as consequence.

The radiation level of the packages was very low and remained unchanged during the incident (dose rate on gamma and neutron radiation of 2.5 microsievert per hour at one meter from the package surface) so there were no specific radiation protection problems for the intervention team. The transport continued at 18h00 on 5 February 1997. A speed limit of 80 kilometres an hour was imposed as supplementary precaution by the French authorities.

The standing working group is of the opinion that emergency response planning and preparedness for transport accidents should remain fully the responsibility of the Member States. The information on packages for the purpose of an emergency is available from the carrier and the Member States.

As already indicated in the Commission's previous reply the selection of the routing is mainly imposed by physical protection considerations which are within the exclusive competence of the Member States. However, there may be deviation from the shortest routing in order to ensure that all risks are systematically taken into account (radiological and non-radiological) including normal and accident conditions.

The safety of the transport is ultimately ensured by the performance of the package, even under severe accident conditions. At no time did the derailment at Apach threaten the safety of the population and the environment.

Having examined the whole issue, the Commission draws the conclusion that a permanent review of the rules and conditions for the transport of radioactive materials is justified, and that the standing working group on safe transport of radioactive material has proved to be useful. Although the third report of the group was only adopted and sent to Parliament in the second quarter of 1996, the Commission has invited the group to undertake immediately the drafting of the fourth report, taking into account recent developments and events in its field of competence.