Ğnsuring that regulatory changes are risk-based and not overly conservative.Īnalysis of the subjects covered by the papers shows that the main topics discussed were regulatory issues, risk assessment, spent fuel packaging, thermal and mechanical behaviour, transport management and operational experience.Ĝontinued compliance with the international regulations.Training and retaining the next generation.David Huizenga pointed to the key issues which need to be considered: Transport is also crucial to the return of spent high-enriched nuclear fuel from reactors outside the USA. Another example, illustrated in the photograph above, shows a train carrying low level waste commencing the journey from Fernald, Ohio to the Envirocare site in Utah. WIPP is now open and to date there have been 350 shipments and the total number projected is 19,500. At the same time part of the task involves extensive public participation. Closure of many of these places is vitally dependent on clean-up and removal of contaminated material for storage and disposal, for example to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Amongst the achievements he mentioned the clean-up of Rocky Flats in Denver, Colorado. It had been said at PATRAM '98 that the majority of problems in the USA in clearing up the legacy of the Cold War were at DoE sites where about 5000 surplus facilities had been identified.Īpart from the regulatory challenge, the logistic problems are large. The theme of the conference was that safe transport of radioactive material is the 'vital link' in the industry. In the opening plenary session David Huizenga of the DoE, the General Chairman of the conference, said that the objectives of the meeting were to present the achievements since PATRAM '98 and to exchange information and ideas. The conference ended with a technical visit, about an hour's drive out of Chicago, to the GE Morris Spent Fuel Pool Storage Facility and the Dresden Dry Cask Storage Park close by, which provided the opportunity to compare the benefits and limitations of these methods of spent fuel storage. The significance of the symposium was confirmed by the attendance of about 675 delegates from 23 countries. The conference was sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DoE) and hosted by the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The 13th PATRAM conference was held together with a trade exhibition in the Chicago Hilton and Towers, Chicago from 3 to 7 September 2001. Nearly 200 papers were presented, with coverage of a further 50 topics in the poster session. The 13th PATRAM conference was held in Chicago on 3-7 September, 2001.
0 kommentar(er)
