Transport cask testing for HL waste

["Robert Gunter" <rjgunter@icnpharm.com>]

Greetings,

I had the "pleasure" of meeting an anti-nuke activist at the "Great American
Write-in" this past weekend.  They contended that other than computer modeling
there has been NO operational testing of the current casks for transport of
spent nuclear fuel.  This is one of  their major points about the safety of
transporting SNF.  In addition, it was mentioned that the only testing of these
casks "ever performed" were done in the 70's.  The video is trotted out at every
meeting and shown (with someone doing a survey after the crash of the empty
cask).

Now when I worked at ORNL, there was a transportation safety group which had
photos of the usual cask into the wall at 50 mph.  Are there any public record
studies that show the effectiveness of these casks and describe the testing
performed?

It was said that the only studies that have been done are computer simulations.
Please provide direction and I will pass it on.

Rob


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert J. Gunter         Tel: (714) 545-0100

Sr. Technical Specialist      Tel: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2414

ICN Biomedicals, Inc.         Fax: (714) 668-3149

Dosimetry Division       Email: rjgunter@icnpharm.com

3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA  92626



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