QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE TRANSPORT AND PACKAGING OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Quality Assurance (QA) is a requirement of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Series No. 6 \"Regulations for Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials\". It is also, increasingly, a customer requirement. British Nuclear Fuels pic (BNFL) Transport Division has established an integrated management system (including quality and safety) which is being extended to cover environmental aspects. The management system covers the design, procurement, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance, inspection and decommissioning of all packages used for the transport of radioactive materials and for interim storage. It also covers planning, programming and transport operations. These arrangements cover all modes of transport by road, rail, sea and air.The QA arrangements developed enable Transport Division to demonstrate to Competent Authorities, customers and the general public that the systems in place meet all regulatory requirements.In 1993, Transport Division reviewed the available quality standards and decided to improve the existing arrangements so that they met the requirements of I SO 9001: 1994 Quality Systems: Model for Quality Assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing. The revised management system was certified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) in 1994.This paper discusses what quality assurance is, why QA arrangements should be introduced and how they were established within Transport Division. Finally, the further developments in the Division's quality arrangements using the tools and techniques of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the European Foundation for Quality Management Model for Self Assessment are described.