Year
2015
Abstract
In the business world, transportation is an integral component in the completion of transactions. The nuclear business is no exception; items requiring transport include, but are not limited to, natural, enriched, and depleted uranium and spent nuclear fuel. Only a few of the many nuclear power plants currently operating in the world (435 operational, 71 under construction [1]), possess the ability to process raw material into nuclear fuel, meaning that the raw ore from a mine will likely cross many State boundaries by various modes of transport (ship, rail, public road, and sometimes air). Due to its importance and abundance, nuclear material, in some way, shape, or form, is constantly in transit. Unlike regular mail, which travels by post, shipments of nuclear material are governed by legal documents that each State and/or regional regulator has in place to ensure that the material travels from point A to point B safely and securely. This paper discusses the many different legal codes that protect the consignor (any person, organization, or government which prepares a consignment [2] for transport) and the consignee, or any person, organization, or government which receives a consignment. The paper further discusses the potential impact of the implementation and application of any new regulations set forth by the various stakeholders. The primary focus is on the legal documents of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development/ Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA), which apply internationally, as well as the documents of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other documents of specific countries. The paper then gives some examples of unique regulations found in State documents and describes how they affect transit in and out of those particular countries (or, in some cases, forbid it).