A nuclear waste shipment passed through Port Kembla harbour "without incident" on Monday morning, NSW Ports Minister Joe Tripodi said yesterday.
Mr Tripodi was responding to demands he release any incident reports related to safety breaches that occurred while transporting the US-bound spent nuclear rods from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor to a ship, the Lynx, at Port Kembla.
A port source had told the Mercury how the ship had listed
as the first container was loaded and how the container had hit the side of a truck.
Tight security for nuclear waste shipment Nuclear waste ship can be tracked on the web
Concerned about what that meant, NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon yesterday called for Mr Tripodi and "the Minister for Emergency Services to reveal whether any safety incident reports (had been) filed about Sunday night's operation and the details of those reports".
Mr Tripodi said there were "no safety breaches so there are no incident reports".
"The Port Kembla Harbour Master has assured me that the loading of the cargo went without incident," he said.
"The shipment was conducted under strict national and international security and safety standards."
More than 400 police and RTA crews helped guard the convoy containing the rods, under the spotlight of a helicopter, as it made the 56km journey from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to Port Kembla.
But despite that security on land, a well-known international shipping website published the co-ordinates of the Lynx on its journey from the Illawarra coast.
By yesterday, after the Lynx had moved further out to sea, there was no longer any sign of the ship on the website.
Those responsible for the website had not responded to enquiries by deadline.
ANSTO says the spent fuel will be permanently stored in the US and will not return to Australia.
It is the final shipment of spent fuel resulting from operations of two former research reactors.
Shipment of used fuel from the new OPAL research reactor at Lucas Heights is not expected until after 2014.
"The solid used fuel elements will travel to the US in a special purpose cargo ship designed to carry radioactive material," an ANSTO statement released before it departed said.
"The elements will be safely and securely packed in purpose-built sealed casks that have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they cannot be ruptured, even in the most severe accident."
The 159 used fuel elements helped produce some 2.5 million patient nuclear medicine treatments.
The Greens estimate that the NSW Government spent $240,000 on the security operation.
They will submit notices of questions to the ministers for police, roads and emergency services next week, asking for official details of the total cost of the security operation.
Wollongong City Council general manager David Farmer declined to comment on the breach of the city's nuclear-free status.
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