This is untrue. Spent fuel shipments are shipped with very little security, if any. It’s not like someone can just come along and walk off with the thing. It’s designed so that even in a serious derailment or accident, or a sabotage event of some type, the cask would still be secure. There really isn’t any need for security on these things. There’s likely to be someone with it/following it, but the MIB are not going to pounce on you for taking pictures. Something odd like that rolls through town, they know people are going to come see.
Incidentally, brand new fuel rods are sent to plants on the back of standard tractor trailer flatbeds with absolutely no escort at all, just your standard truck driver, and they’re placarded RADIOACTIVE for all to see. Of course, until they’ve had their chain reaction initated in the reactor, they’re really not dangerous. You can touch them with your bare hands ad not be affected (someone does, to inspect it for damage when it arrives at the plant. I’ve seen it done).
I’ve seen photos of a test carried out over here on a cask where they ran an old loco and a few cars into an empty one at approx 100MPH - the cask was barely scratched while the loco was a write-off. That’s pretty solid! I’d say that in this part of the world you’re more at risk from leftover fallout from Chenobyl than a nuclear fuel transport - there are hill farmers near me who still have to have all their sheep tested for radioactivity before they are allowed to sell them.
The debate about the security angle is interesting - trains carrying the high-level stuff over here have had a couple of modified passenger cars full of armed police attached to the train since about 2001, but they seem ok about photographing the trains - at least, I’ve not heard of anyone being hassled while doing so. I guess so long as the same faces and vehicles don’t appear at every stop or town, they don’t take any action.
The cargo is of the type that who in their right mind is going to want to be messing around with that thing anyway? The type of people who might want to, are also the very same people that are going to stick out like a sore thumb trackside. At least to the local railroaders and railfans.
Well, no one has said anything to me about taking the pics(yet). I’m really not worried about it at all. The truck is mine and that’s where I park it at. There were no real markings to say of that really stated anything. The ones I did say said something about weight and height. The locos pulling it were UP. Nothing real fancy just the usual I see here.
As far as the security aspect, I really don’t care if they don’t want me taking pictures of it. If they don’t then they should have been smart enought o cover it up with a tarp. If this is a government cargo then that wouldn’t be the case.[:D][B)] If there is going to be a problem with me taking the picture, let them come. Then they could take care of the meth dealers around here.[:D]
Well Jeremy, I think you’re safe all the way around. No third eye, and no suits pounding on your door.
The bottom line is who would want to take that stuff anyway. It isn’t like you could just walk up, unscrew the top, reach in and take some (and live). That stuff is useless for bomb making anyway.
it is useless for conventional bombs, but for dirty bombs it’s ideal. and they wouldn’t care if they lived or died, they’d just pop the thing open and contaminate a good 100 mile radius.
there is no “just popping one of those things open”. Believe me when I say the nuclear industry doesn’t want that kind of publicity, so it goes to great lengths to ensure it doesn’t happen.
Speaking of heavy loads, I posted some pics of a heavy elecrical load that came through Georgia a few years ago. Some of you might find it interesting.