• To provide shippers with a single source of information on the Midwestern states to help in planning shipping activities; and • To improve the efficiency of the transportation process for both the Midwestern states and shippers. The Midwestern states first prepared this planning guide in 2002 in response to an increasing frequency of radioactive material shipments through the region and, with it, an increasing array of practices, procedures, and plans requiring the input and involvement of the states. To date, DOE has conducted most of these shipments with varying levels of state involvement. The states appreciate DOE’s efforts to consolidate and better coordinate its radioactive material transportation activities, particularly through the development in 2002 of a comprehensive Radioactive Material Transportation Practices Manual for use across the department. This Midwestern planning guide complements DOE’s activities by providing a single resource of information on the Midwestern states to be used to develop plans for each new shipping campaign. Because of our long-standing working relationship with DOE on radioactive material transportation planning, we expect DOE to conduct its shipments in a manner that meets the guidelines spelled out in this document. We also look to non- DOE shippers of radioactive waste and material to adopt these guidelines and to work cooperatively with the states as partners in transportation planning. The states take different approaches to regulating radioactive material transportation, but they all base their actions on the type of material and the mode of shipment, not on the identity of the shipper or the points of origin and destination of the shipments. A central principle of this planning guide, therefore, is that shipments of similar material should be handled in the same fashion. In other words, shipments of transuranic waste should follow the same policies and procedures, regardless of whether the shipments are headed to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot
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