The United Kingdom on Thursday successfully delivered 132 canisters of highly active nuclear waste to Japan, nuclear material transport contractor International Nuclear Services (INS) announced Monday.
INS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). It joined its own subsidiary, Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd. (PNTL), and the NDA’s Sellafield Ltd. in transporting the waste through the Panama Canal. This is the sixth such shipment to Japan under the Vitrified Residue Returns program, which is the NDA’s approach to repatriating highly active waste from the U.K. It was PNTL’s 18th nuclear waste shipment from Europe to Japan since 1995.
Hauling five transport flasks, the Pacific Grebe nuclear cargo vessel was unloaded at the port of Mutsu-Ogawara, and the material was then transported by road to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s storage facility at Rokkasho-Mura. The flasks were first moved via rail from the U.K.’s Sellafield site to Barrow-in-Furness in August.
“We’re delighted to have successfully completed the sixth shipment of waste to Japan. It’s another demonstration of INS and PNTL’s extensive and proven expertise in nuclear material transportation,” INS Managing Director Mark Jervis said in a statement. “I would like to thank our transport partners and customers for their hard work and co-operation in making this shipment such a success. We know that with meticulous planning and collaboration we can continue to deliver progress in this long-term programme.”