Nuclear fuel transport
Licensed shielded containers for fresh fuel, and heavy casks for spent fuel.
Transport · Solid and nuclear fuels · No. 63
- Transport
- Form: Nuclear fuel
One lorry carries about 6 tonnes of fresh nuclear fuel, enough to make roughly 1.75 TWh of electricity.
Chart: Illustration: Nuclear fuel transport
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Mined yellowcake travels in ordinary drums. It is turned into UF6 for enrichment, made into fuel assemblies, and after use returns in shielded casks weighing about 80-125 tonnes.
Three things to know
- Type B casks are tested in an 800 C fire for 30 minutes, and none has ever been breached in transport.
- Russia supplied 27% of US enrichment services in 2023, before a US import ban that runs to the end of 2040.
- The US expects over 140,000 tonnes of spent fuel at more than 70 sites by 2060, all of which must eventually move.
The journey
- 1 YellowcakeUranium oxide in ordinary steel drums
- 2 UF6 cylindersThick steel cylinders to and from enrichment
- 3 Fresh fuelType A packages, mostly by truck
- 4 Spent fuelCooled, then sealed in 80-125 t casks
- 5 Rail or shipHeavy casks to storage or reprocessing