OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2015. A shipment of vitrified nuclear waste from the United Kingdom to Switzerland is currently under way. The journey involves a stage by sea, from the United Kingdom to France, and a stage by land, in France and Switzerland.

As announced in June, International Nuclear Services (INS), a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA, a British governmental agency), is responsible for this shipment. It has contracted with AREVA TN, AREVA’s Nuclear Logistics business, to safely manage the ground transportation in France.

The shipment comprises three transport casks, each loaded with 28 canisters of vitrified waste. They left the port of Barrow-in-Furness in the United Kingdom on board specialized vessel Oceanic Pintail, operated by INS. The vessel is currently en route to the port of Cherbourg (Manche, France), where the transport casks will be unloaded for transportation to Switzerland by rail.

This shipment meets current national and international regulations regarding nuclear safety. The transport casks used comply with International Atomic Energy Agency safety standards and are designed to ensure the protection of people and the environment under all circumstances.