UK introducing regulation for nuclear shipping

16 August 2021

The UK has launched a consultation on proposed regulations for nuclear-powered ships that would enable UK-flagged vessels to use the power source and international vessels to visit its ports. "The UK is committed to enabling the adoption of new technologies that manufacturers and ship owners may choose to meet legal requirements relating to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore will establish a regulatory framework that will support nuclear-powered ships as an alternative fuel option," said the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA).

In March this year, plans were announced for the Earth 300 - a 300-metre-long, nuclear-powered research ship - scheduled to launch in 2025 (Image: Earth 300 Ventures)

To do this, MCA wants to create national legislation that mirrors provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships - also known as the Nuclear Code - that the convention refers to. Signatories to SOLAS are obligated to do this, but the UK has lagged behind by some 40 years by not matching the 1981 Nuclear Code.

Filling this "regulatory gap", as the MCA calls it, would install a ready-made suite of regulation providing for the construction and operation of UK ships using nuclear power, as well as for nuclear powered ships with flags of other countries visiting UK ports.

The proposed regulations would introduce a dedicated nuclear pre-commissioning test programme as well as surveys during the construction and trial phases for quality assurance and to verify a ship is built in line with requirements. There would also be regular surveys of the nuclear portion of a ship during its operational life.

SOLAS signatories are responsible for making sure vessels under their flag comply with its regulations, and are empowered to check vessels of other flag nations if there are grounds to think standards are not being met.

MCA is including an "ambulatory" clause in its proposed legislation, which provides for UK rules to stay in line with other countries if IMO regulations change.

The cost of the change would be very small, MCA said, given there are no nuclear ships on the UK flag at present, and there are no published plans for any with the next ten years. It therefore will not affect any ongoing operation or project.

MCA plans to review consultation responses in November and introduce the new legislation in December.

Canadian regulator issues order on plant restarts

The operators of the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering nuclear power plants must submit data to demonstrate the safe operation of pressure tubes and obtain regulatory authorisation before restarting any currently shut-down reactors at those sites. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) says it has issued orders to Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation out of an "abundance of caution".

Bruce (Image: Bruce Power)

The regulator earlier this month issued formal notices to all nuclear power plant licensees in Canada, requesting further analysis on the continued safe operation of pressure tubes, due to Bruce Power finding elevated levels of hydrogen equivalent in the pressure tubes of two units that are currently shut down.

"Following this regulatory action, our staff have now issued orders to both Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation. Effective July 26 (Bruce Power) and July 27 (OPG) these orders are to ensure any units currently offline at the Bruce, Pickering and Darlington nuclear generating stations, along with any other reactors that go offline at these sites going forward, are not restarted until the Commission authorises them to do so," the CNSC said.

"These orders have been issued out of an abundance of caution, and we do not see this as an imminent safety issue. We have increased our regulatory oversight in light of the recent findings, to ensure that licensees continue to operate within their approved licensing basis."

Bruce Power said higher-than-anticipated readings were observed during part of ongoing planned inspection, testing, analysis and maintenance activities at Bruce units 3 and 6. Unit 3 is in a routine inspection and maintenance outage, while unit 6 is undergoing its Major Component Replacement, where all pressure tubes are being replaced.

"We completed an immediate review of this following our rigorous processes and concluded there was no impact on the safety of the units. All six units that are currently operating have recently undergone similar inspections and demonstrated fitness for service," the company said.

"We proactively shared this information with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and with other CANDU operators to ensure we continue to contribute to the collective understanding from these inspection activities, which we collaborate on through the CANDU Owners Group."

Inspection activities have demonstrated the ongoing safe operation of the pressure tubes, which will continue to be thoroughly inspected in future planned outages, the company said. "As has clearly been expressed, safety is not impacted and Bruce Power will use its robust inspection tools and results to continue to demonstrate safety and fitness for service of these components and will provide this information to the CNSC."

Monitoring Fukushima radiation on land and sea

Japanese laboratories monitoring radionuclides in seawater, marine sediment and fish near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continue to produce reliable data, according to a new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to rear fish in treated radioactive water from the plant to demonstrate its safety. A University of Georgia study has shown that radioactive contamination in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone can be measured through its resident snakes.

Seawater samples being taken near the Fukushima Daiichi plant (Image: IAEA)

The IAEA has since 2014 organised missions to support the collection of marine samples for interlaboratory comparisons of radioactivity analyses. The first phase of the Marine Monitoring Confidence Building and Data Quality Assurance project covered the years 2014 to 2016. It found that Japan produced reliable data on marine samples near Fukushima Daiichi plant.

In this second phase of the project, the IAEA carried out a range of activities focused on marine monitoring data quality, including interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) of seawater, sediment and fish samples collected in four sampling missions conducted from 2017 to 2020 near the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

ILCs involve different laboratories separately testing and analysing samples and then comparing results and procedures to determine their reliability and accuracy. The samples in the second phase of the project were analysed at 12 laboratories in Japan, at the IAEA Environment Laboratories in Monaco and two laboratories in other Member States (in Canada and Switzerland) that are part of the network of Analytical Laboratories for the Measurement of Environmental Radioactivity.

"Following these ILCs, the IAEA can confidently report that Japan's sample collection procedures follow the appropriate methodological standards required to obtain representative samples," the new report states. It added that "the results obtained demonstrate a continued high level of accuracy and competence on the part of the Japanese laboratories involved in the analyses of radionuclides in marine samples for the (country's) Sea Area Monitoring Plan".

"It can be concluded that over 97% of the results were not significantly different from each other, and this shows that the participating Japanese laboratories have the capacity to accurately analyse the samples," said Florence Descroix-Comanducci, director of the IAEA's environment laboratories in Monaco. "The results also demonstrate a high level of consistency among the Japanese laboratories and with laboratories in other countries and the IAEA."

The IAEA Marine Monitoring Confidence Building and Data Quality Assurance collaboration with Japan has been extended for a further two years in order to conduct additional ILCs and proficiency tests and build on the already completed work.

Impact on marine life

At the Fukushima Daiichi site, contaminated water is treated by the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), which removes most of the radioactive contamination, with the exception of tritium. This treated water is currently stored in tanks on-site. The total tank storage capacity amounts to about 1.37 million cubic metres. As of 15 July, almost 1.27 million cubic metres of treated water were being held in the storage tanks. All the tanks are expected to be full around the summer of 2022.

In April, the Japanese government announced its formal decision that the treated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi site will be discharged into the sea. The basic policy calls for the ALPS-treated water to be discharged "on the condition that full compliance with the laws and regulations is observed, and measures to minimise adverse impacts on reputation are thoroughly implemented".

Japan intends to start releasing the treated water in early 2023, and the entire operation could last for decades.

Tokyo Electric Power Company yesterday announced plans to rear fish, shellfish and seaweed in seawater containing ALPS-treated water. The test is aimed at aimed at easing safety concerns about the release of the water into the sea.

Information will be gathered on the occurrence of health-related abnormalities, as well as the hatching rate of eggs and the survival rate of matured fish. A comparison will also be made of the concentration of radioactive materials, including tritium, in the water used for the trial and the subjects' bodies.

The test is due to begin in the second quarter of 2022. "Rearing is planned to be continued for a while after discharge has been initiated," the company said.

Reptilian receptors

Meanwhile, a study from the University of Georgia (UGA) has shown that radioactive contamination around the Fukushima plant can be measured through tracking snakes. Rat snakes, it says, travel short distances and can accumulate high levels of radionuclides, making them an effective bioindicator of residual radioactivity.

According to the researchers, the snakes' limited movement and close contact with contaminated soil are key factors in their ability to reflect the varying levels of contamination in the area. Tracked snakes were found to move an average of just 65 metres per day.

The team tracked nine rat snakes using a combination of GPS transmitters and manual very-high frequency tracking. The researchers identified 1718 locations of the snakes while tracking them for over a month in the Abukuma Highlands, approximately 15 miles northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The new study's findings reinforce the team's previous study published in 2020, which indicated the levels of radiocaesium in the snakes had a high correlation to the levels of radiation in the soil where the snakes were captured.

"Snakes are good indicators of environmental contamination because they spend a lot of time in and on soil," said James Beasley, associate professor at of UGA's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SERL) and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. "They have small home ranges and are major predators in most ecosystems, and they’re often relatively long-lived species."

"Our results indicate that animal behaviour has a large impact on radiation exposure and contaminant accumulation," said Hanna Gerke, an alumna of SERL and Warnell. "Studying how specific animals use contaminated landscapes helps increase our understanding of the environmental impacts of huge nuclear accidents such as Fukushima and Chernobyl."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News