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SUMMARY C Spent f u e l from n u c l e a r r e a c t o r s has been t r a n s p o r t e d i n r o u t i n e commerce i n t h e U.S. f o r over 25 years. During t h i s period, no a c c i d e n t has occurred t h a t r e s u l t e d i n t h e r e l e a s e o f r a d i o a c t i v e m a t e r i a l from a spent f u e l cask.By 1986, t h e annual r a t e o f spent f u e l shipments by r a i l i s expected t o be n e a r l y 20 percent o f t h e t o t a l shipments d u r i n g t h e l a s t 25 years. Because o f t h i s increased s h i p p i n g r a t e , t h e r a i l r o a d i n d u s t r y contends t h a t t h e t r a n s p o r t a t i o n environment f o r spent f u e l shipments must be c o n t r o l l e d t o m a i n t a i n t h i s e x c e l l e n t s a f e t y record. To p r o v i d e t h i s c o n t r o l over t h e t r a n s p o r t a t i o n environment, t h e A s s o c i a t i o n o f American Railroads (AAR) hasproposed t h a t a1 1 spent f u e l be handled i n s p e c i a l t r a i n service. A s e t o f o p e r a t i n g p r a c t i c e s f o r spent f u e l s p e c i a l t r a i n s has been proposed t h a t i n c l u d e s a 35 mph maximum speed r e s t r i c t i o n , a passing r e s t r i c t i o n and a n o -o t h e r -f r e i g h t r e s t r i c t i o n . The purpose o f t h i s study was t o evaluate t h e p o t e n t i a l e f f e c t s o f these r e s t r i c t i o n s on t h e s a f e t y and c o s t o f s h i p p i n gspent f u e l by t r a i n . The a n a l y s i s i s based on estimated q u a n t i t i e s o f spent fuel t r a n s p o r t e d i n 1986. Data were n o t a v a i l a b l e t o d i r e c t l y compare t h e s a f e t y o f special t r a i n s and conventional f r e i g h t t r a i n s . ' The p o t e n t i a l e f f e c t s o f t h e spent f u e l s p e c i a l t r a i n o p e r a t i n g r e s t r i c t i o n s were examined u s i n g data fro111 t h e Federal Rai 1 road Admini s t r a t i o n f o r f r e i g h t t r a i n accidents t h a t occurred from 1972-1 974. Based on t h i s data, e v a l u a t i o n s were made on t h e r e l a t i v e s a f e t y o f s p e c i a l t r a i n s and conventional t r a i n s u s i n g accident frequency and s e v e r i t y as comparative measures. D o l l a r damage t o r a i l r o a d equipment d u r i n g an a c c i d e n t was selected as t h e b e s t a v a i l a b l e measure o f accident s e v e r i t y .Increased cask and equipment damage (expressed i n terms o f do1 l a r damage) does n o t n e c e s s a r i l y represent decreased s a f e t y t o t h e general p u b l i c . YThreshold l e v e l s o f a c c i d e n t stresses (e. g., impact and puncture forces and f i r e temperature and d u r a t i o n ) a r e r e q u i r e d t o cornpromise t h e i n t e g r i t y of spent fuel casks before any of t h e contained r a d i o a c t i v e m a t e r i a l s c o u l d be released. A n a l y t i c a l studies, s c a l e model t e s t s and f u l l s c a l e t e s t s o f spent fuel casks i n t r a n s p o r t a t i o n a c c i d e n ...

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