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TRANSPORTATION OF WEAPONS PLUTONIUM FUEL BY AIRWhat U.S. DoE and AECL MOX transportation documents say
Background The weapons plutonium fuel plan promoted by AECL and the federal cabinet envisages the use of plutonium in the form of MOX (a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide) as fuel in Canadian nuclear reactors. There have been numerous critical assessments of the concept (which includes both a “test burn” plan and a larger initiative which would see tonnes of weapons plutonium from the U.S. and Russia imported into Canada over 25 years), including that of an all-party parliamentary committee which recommended that the plutonium fuel plan be scrapped. In spite of significant opposition and concern, the federal government announced on September 2, 1999 that Canada had agreed to import plutonium fuel from U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles (120 grams from each country) for the purposes of a “test burn” (the first of up to three) in a nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ontario. On January 14, 2000, American weapons plutonium fuel clandestinely crossed the U.S. - Canada border by land transport. The shipment is part of the test burn plan (also known as as the Parallex Project). On the Canadian side the shipment was flown by helicopter from Sault Ste. Marie to Chalk River. The possibility of transporting MOX plutonium from the U.S. by aircraft was never discussed in AECL plans submitted to Transport Canada and made public in September 1999. Section 7 of the AECL Canadian Transportation Plan for the PARALLEX Project - Los Alamos to Chalk River Shipment, dated August 1999, states that, “highway transport was the only mode considered in the current Canadian evaluation.” The decision in Canada to move from land transport to air was likely made to avoid blockades and protests expected in many communities along the land transport route from Sault Ste. Marie to Chalk River. U.S. law prohibits MOX plutonium flights over its territory in connection with the Parallex project, because of the risks associated with an air crash. Even the lead U.S. agency responsible for promoting the plutonium test burn project, the Department of Energy, explicitly rejected the option of transporting MOX plutonium to Canada by air. The following excerpts from U.S. Department of Energy and AECL documents deal with the transportation of weapons plutonium fuel by air.
Excerpt 1 of 3 Excerpt from: DOE/EA-1216 Environmental Assessment for the Parallex Project Fuel Manufacture and Shipment Los Alamos National Laboratory Date Prepared: January, 1999 Prepared by: United States Department of Energy Office of Fissile Materials Disposition Washington, DC Page 17 2.3.3 Transport of MOX Fuel by Air “Federal regulations under 10 CFR 71.88 (Air Transport of Plutonium) explicitly prohibit the transportation of plutonium by air or the delivery to a carrier for air transport unless the plutonium is 1) in a medical device, 2) in a form with a specific activity no greater than 0.002 µCi/g, 3) shipped in a single package with no more than a specified quantity, and 4) shipped in a specifically authorized NRC-package with a Certificate of Compliance. Plutonium is a component of MOX fuel. The restrictions imposed for transportation of plutonium by air prohibits this alternative for shipment of the MOX fuel quantities needed for the Parallex Project. In addition, air transport is considered to be more hazardous than ground transport due to the potential for greater distribution of radioactive materials in the event of a major air accident. This alternative was dismissed from further analysis.”
Excerpt 2 of 3 Excerpt from: AECL EACL Canadian Transportation Plan for the PARALLEX Project—Los Alamos to Chalk River Shipment 100-37000-TD-003 Revision 0 1999 August Page 10 of 26 7.0 TRANSPORTATION MODE ALTERNATIVES “Air transport, rail, and highway transport are all possible modes of shipping the LANL MOX fuel to CRL. However, evaluations done for the USDOE [3] eliminated both air transport and rail options from further consideration. Accordingly, highway transport was the only mode considered in the current Canadian evaluation.”
Excerpt 3 of 3 Excerpt from: AECL EACL Canadian Transportation Plan for the PARALLEX Project—St. Petersburg to Chalk River Shipment 100-37000-TD-004 Revision 0 1999 August Page 10 of 26 7.0 TRANSPORTATION MODE ALTERNATIVES “Air and marine transport are possible modes of shipping the Russian MOX fuel to Canada. Marine transport was selected because of increased flexibility afforded by the larger number of certified marine shipping packages that are internationally available. The TNB-0145/4 package is only certified to transport up to 15 g of plutonium by air.”
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout January 2000 |
