Transport of Radioactive Materials in Canada in 2021 and 2022
Rajesh Garg | Canadian Nuclear Safety CommissionEnoch ABC Ballroom
Canada is one of the world’s leading producers, users and exporters of nuclear fuel cycle products and radioisotopes for industrial, medical and research purposes. Based upon a survey conducted by the IAEA in the early 1980s, Canada was the second largest shipper of radioactive material (RAM) packages of all reporting countries. According to a survey done in 1992 by Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) (then Atomic Energy Control Board), over one million packages of radioactive material were exported, imported or shipped within Canada annually. A new study was recently conducted to update this data and to have a better understanding of the number of RAM shipments that currently take place each year in Canada. This information is required to disseminate to the public, to better regulate the industry and for risk management.
The study involved collecting data on RAM shipments that took place in Canada during 2021 and 2022. The study was broken down into the following six transport sectors: Industrial, Medical, Nuclear fuel cycle, Commercial, Academic and Research and others. Approximately 1500 CNSC licensees were contacted which covered over 2100 CNSC licences. The study involved contacting all types of licensees such as hospitals, universities, portable gauge users, power reactors, and fuel fabricators, as well as freight forwarders and carriers who ship and/or import-export radioactive materials. The survey collected data on:
- All types of CNSC regulated RAM transport packages i.e., excepted packages, Type IP-1, Type IP-2, Type IP-3, Type A, Type B, Type H and fissile material packages.
- Modes of transport used for shipment for these packages
- Number of packages shipped each year
- Activity (TBq) of the RAM contents shipped each year