WNA NEWS BRIEFING 02.36
(for the period 28 August - 3 September 2002)
US: Spent fuel transportation containers designed and licensed to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requirements can endure an engulfing fire of 816°C for seven or more hours with no fuel cladding failure, according to a preliminary report by the NRC. The report is consistent with NRC findings in October 2001. Anti-nuclear groups have used the case of a fire in a rail tunnel in Baltimore in July 2001 in their fight against rail transportation of nuclear waste.
(Nuclear Energy Overview, 2 September, p1; see also News Briefing 01.31-8)