Nuclear materials have been safely transported from Japan to France and the United Kingdom since 1969. As described in other sections, Japan is working to create a "closed" nuclear fuel cycle. Various spent nuclear fuel activities, such as reprocessing and vitrification, have been occurring through contracts with corporate partners in Europe. All nuclear materials, including MOX fuel and vitrified wastes, must be transported between Japan and Europe. Considering the long history of nuclear transportation across the world, Japan's nuclear utilities are confident that safety and security for these shipments can be met. In addition, Independent nuclear experts around the world have stated that transporting these materials is safe.

The companies responsible for the recycling and the shipments are well-established and well-regarded organizations. The ten Japanese electrical power companies are represented by the Overseas Reprocessing Committee (ORC). British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) and Cogema are, respectively, the operators of the British and French reprocessing facilities. All of these organizations have a history of complying with the national and international regulations which govern their activities.

Nuclear material is safely transported extensively within Japan, Europe and elsewhere throughout the world, often involving different modes of transport at different stages of a journey. For this reason safety is ensured by specially designed transport packages, known as casks, which comply with rigorous international standards.

Casks containing nuclear materials have been safely transported in the UK, France and Japan for over 30 years. They are specially designed for the particular radioactive material they contain, give protection to workers and the public against radiation and are designed to withstand the most serious accidents.

The casks are massive steel structures made from 10-inch thick forged steel and weigh around 100 tonnes. In the case of used fuel, each cask typically contains about five tonnes of fuel. With vitrified waste, each cask contains 20 or 28 stainless steel canisters which, in turn, contain the solid vitrified glass waste. Each full canister weighs around 500 kg.

The casks are built to standards set down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations organization. The philosophy of their regulations is that safety is ensured by the special packages whatever mode of transport is used. The regulations which they have established have been agreed by international experts representing 127-member countries of the IAEA. Under these regulations the cask design has successfully met a series of rigorous fire, impact and immersion criteria.

The ships on which the nuclear material is transported have a range of safety features far in excess of those found on conventional cargo vessels:

• Double hulls to withstand collision damage
• Enhanced buoyancy to prevent the ship from sinking even in extreme circumstances
• Dual navigation, communications, cargo monitoring and cooling systems
• Satellite navigation and tracking
• Twin engines and propellers
• Additional fire fighting equipment, including a hold flooding system

The ships are owned by a subsidiary company called Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) , which is owned by BNFL, Cogema and the Japanese utilities. PNTL is the most experienced company in the world for the sea transport of radioactive nuclear materials with a proven ability over more than 20 years.

The ships have a safety record second to none, having covered more than 4.5 million miles without a single incident resulting in the release of radioactivity. Over 4,000 casks have been safely transported since the 1960's in over 160 shipments.

The ships undergo regular maintenance inspections and their equipment is regularly checked. They have a fully trained and experienced British crew and, while at sea, maintain a permanent communications link with a report center which is manned 24 hours a day.

The ships meet the highest safety rating of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations Agency which regulates shipping. It means that they are amongst the safest ships on the sea. Ships of the same design transport the same type of material within Europe and between ports in Japan.

There are hazards in any marine activity and, while the safety arrangements are exceptionally good, detailed and well-rehearsed emergency response arrangements also exist.

These range from voyage tracking, sonar location devices, radiation monitoring equipment and a worldwide salvage capability to an emergency team of industry specialists on 24-hour worldwide standby.

An advantage with transporting this type of material is that the emergency arrangements do not rely on specialist assistance being available from countries adjacent to the route. There is therefore no special need for emergency plans to be coordinated with other countries in advance.

In the unlikely event of a ship getting into difficulty, a fully trained and equipped team of nuclear experts are available on a 24-hour emergency standby system, in line with IAEA recommendations. In the event of a serious fire or collision, this team would be dispatched to the ship and would direct and manage all remedial operations. The ship would not necessarily head towards the nearest port to seek assistance. Comprehensive salvage arrangements have been drawn up for both the ship and cargo, which could be initiated immediately.

Transport casks are securely fixed in the hold of the ships. For the nuclear material within the casks to become exposed, the ship's hold would need to rupture, exposing the casks, which in turn would also need to rupture, thereby exposing the canister which must also rupture, before the material itself would be exposed. Even in this incredible scenario of nuclear material becoming directly exposed to the sea, the leach rate of this special material in water is extremely low.

Because it is in a solid form and is characterized by long term stability and low solubility in water, there is no prospect of a 'radioactive slick'.

The results of an environmental impact assessment performed by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency show that the effect of such a scenario would be negligible.

It calculated an exposure rate to the most affected person of less than one thousandth of annual natural back-ground radiation levels.

The hazard posed by these shipments is therefore very small.

Since this type of shipment began nearly 30 years ago, routes have been taken through the Panama Canal, around Cape Horn and around the Cape of Good Hope. This information is public and has been for many years.

Each voyage typically takes six to eight weeks to complete and the ships are capable of completing each voyage without having to stop at any port en route.

As with other merchant vessels, the ship's journey is governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This allows ships the right of innocent passage within territorial waters (12 miles from a country's coastline).

Under the same convention, Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ's) have been established by some states for the exploitation of mineral rights and other economic activities, up to 200 miles from their coastline. Under UNCLOS, ships are allowed freedom of navigation within EEZ's, as with the rest of the high seas.

It is internationally recognized that there shall be no suspension of these maritime rights within either limit.

• The transportation of nuclear materials by sea is nothing new -- it has been going on safely since the 1960's.
• The shipments are carefully managed by responsible, well-run businesses. The shipping company, PNTL, is the most experienced company in the world for transporting this type of cargo, having transported over 4,000 casks and covered 4.5 million miles without a single incident resulting in the release of radioactivity.
• The transportation of nuclear materials is strictly governed by an established system of international regulations which have led to an impressive record of safety over many years.
• The PNTL ships carrying the nuclear material have the highest IMO safety rating and the transport casks meet rigorous IAEA safety standards.
• The purpose-built ships have extensive duplication of equipment and comprehensive safety and emergency systems to ensure their reliability. Similar ships safely transport the same type of material around Europe and between ports in Japan.
• Similar packages have been safely transported in the UK, France and Japan for over 30 years.
• The vitrified waste is specially conditioned as part of a tough, solid glass structure which would prevent the escape of radioactivity even under incredible accident scenarios where the ship, cask and steel container were all ruptured.
• Independent nuclear experts around the world have stated that vitrification is a safe and secure method for treating, transporting and storing highly radioactive waste.
• The waste will be stored at Rokkasho-Mura in Japan for 30-50 years before being transferred to a final disposal facility. It has no military or civilian use.
• Comprehensive emergency plans exist to deal with any eventuality en route. These plans are not reliant on assistance from countries adjacent to the route.
• Like all merchant vessels at sea, under the international law of the sea, the ships have the rights of innocent passage in territorial waters and freedom of navigation on the high seas.

"There has never been an instance of any problems with such vessels (carrying nuclear materials). These vessels have been inspected a number of times by PCC personnel to verify compliance with our regulations... The vessels whose cargo present the highest risk to the Panama Canal are ... bulk carriers, such as LPG and gasoline tankers and those with over 5 tons of... (explosives) aboard."

— Captain Dean Harder and Dr. Freddy Chen,
Panama Canal Commission, 1996

"The risk to New Zealand and New Zealanders from the passage of a ship carrying radioactive waste or plutonium through the Tasman Sea is negligible. It is as close to zero as any reasonably informed person could demand."

— Professor Alan Poletti, Physics Department,
Auckland University, January 1997

"The marine transport of spent fuel, recycled plutonium and high level waste is being undertaken in a straight forward, reasonable way ... it would be hard to think up a better regulatory structure than the one that exists."

— Professor K B. Cady, Cornell University, September 1996

"So the upshot is that an accident of any kind is unlikely to happen ... and the environmental damage done by any conceivable accident would be thousands of times less than that done by a single oil spill."

— Professor H.W. Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Physics,
University of California, Former Chairman of the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's Risk Assessment Review Group,
Member of the President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee,
August 1997

"All the available information demonstrates very low levels of radiological risk and environmental consequences from the marine transport of radioactive material... It was the unanimous conclusion of the Member States that there was no information or data... that would cast doubt on the adequacy of the IAEA Regulations."

— Conclusion from the Joint working group of three United Nations bodies,
International Atomic Energy Agency, International Maritime Organisation,
United Nations Environment Program, April 1993.