A report on incidents and accidents during the transport of radioactive material last year has been published.
Produced by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and commissioned by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the 2011 review into 'Radiological Consequences Resulting from Accidents and Incidents Involving the Transport of Radioactive Materials in the UK' helps ONR to assess the radiological impact from incidents over the course of a year.
Nicholas Barton from the radioactive materials transport programme said of the report: “It is really helpful to have information about incidents in one place like this. Up to half a million packages containing radioactive materials are safely transported to, from, and within the United Kingdom every year, but it is important to take account of the small number of rare incidents that can happen.”
“Making this report publicly available is also one of the ways in which the transport programme fulfils ONR's aim of being an open and transparent regulator.”
The incidents contained in this report will feed into a radioactive materials transport event database, which helps ONR inspectors assess the impact over time.