When transporting certain products and substances, organisations must take particular care. After all, if they are not treated with sufficient expertise and respect, some goods can be dangerous.
By using suitable packaging materials, firms can lessen these risks and they can also ensure they remain on the right side of the law.
One organisation that will have to take extreme care over packaging and transportation soon is the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). Recently, it confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen that it is set to move liquid bomb-grade uranium by armed convoy from Chalk River to a South Carolina reprocessing site.
Small amounts of highly enriched uranium in solid form have long been exported by the US to Canada for the production of medical isotopes at Chalk River’s NRU reactor, but this will represent the first time authorities have attempted to truck highly-enriched uranium in a liquid solution. The CNSC described the task as a “high priority mission”.
Documents filed with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggest that many truck journeys will be required and they could begin in August. Before these journeys get underway, the organisations involved will have to make sure they have the perfect packaging supplies.
Commenting on the plans, Tom Clements, a South Carolina campaign co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth and former executive-director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, said: “This does seem to be an unprecedented, cross-border shipment of liquid high-level waste and, for that reason alone, it needs the highest order of environmental review on both sides of the border.”
