TRANSPORT

Both Ranger and the Olympic Dam Operation need to transport drums of uranium oxide from the mines to ports respectively in Darwin and Port Adelaide.

Ranger

A licence is required under the Northern Territory's Radioactive Ores and Concentrates (Packaging and Transport) legislation to transport radioactive material.

Packaging, storage and transport of such material is subject to the National Code approved under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection (Nuclear Codes) Act.

Only the final product, uranium oxide, is transported outside lease areas. Transport is designed to avoid traffic near established communities. Impact on local communities is considered by the Northern Territory Government to be "small" compared with the traffic arising from tourism in Kakadu National Park.

Uranium oxide is placed in drums which are sealed, weighed, checked and collated on print-outs by the supervisor and/or the packing operator. A seal/lock is then placed on each container. Drums are transported to an interim storage facility at Berrimah by road train which is in radio contact with Ranger Security. On shipment day the product is taken from Berrimah to the wharf by road train under police escort. Loading is supervised at the wharf by the Supply Superintendent.

Olympic Dam Operation

U308 is transported from Olympic Dam to Port Adelaide by road under similar regulatory conditions to those applying to transport of U308 from Ranger. South Australian law is contained in the 1991 Radiation Protection and Control (Transport of Radioactive Substances) Regulations. These regulations call up the Commonwealth Code and the IAEA regulations.

The U308 is packed into 200L heavy duty steel drums, each containing 400kg of product, with a steel lid sealed with a bolted fastener.

Prior to departure measurements are made of radiation dose rates at the surface of the containers, at one metre from the surface, and in the driver's cabin.

According to the South Australian Government, the "radiation dose rates from containers are so low that a person standing at the side of the road would receive a dose less than one thousandth of the annual dose from natural background radiation from the convoy as it passes . . . if for any reason a truck had to remain stationary for several hours, say 10 metres from a residence, the dose to the occupants would be negligible. Radiation doses to the drivers are also a very small fraction of the recommended annual limits" (S 109, para 5.4, 24).

As U308 is classified by the Transport Code as "Low specific activity", one of the least hazardous categories, the radiological consequences of such an accident are not expected to be serious (S 109, 5.4, 24; see also S 15, section 4, 8).

Since ODO opened, 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate have been carried from Olympic Dam to the wharf at Port Adelaide without incident (S 109, 5.4, 24).

Kintyre

Canning Resources informed the Committee that process chemicals are to be transported by road to the site, and uranium oxide concentrate will be transported in sealed 200 litre drums inside 20 tonne ISO containers to a port for export in conformity with the Code of Practice for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Substances 1990 and relevant regulations.