LATEST CHANGES IN THE UN “RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS” AND MODAL REGULATIONS REGARDING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL AND FUTURE ASPECTS OF HARMONIZATION

After a new edition of the IAEA Transport Regulations is published the United Nations SubCommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and the relevant international modal organizations implement resulting changes into their provisions. There is an established procedure for this process between all relevant international bodies since a long time. So, the 2009 Edition of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material No. TS-R-1 was incorporated into the seventeenth revised edition of the UN Model Regulations and afterwards into the regulations for all modes of transport (worldwide in the IMDG-Code for the sea mode and ICAO-Technical Instructions for the air mode, European-wide into the ADR, RID and ADN for the land mode). Thus it is guaranteed, that the implemented IAEA provisions are the same in all relevant regulations. On the other hand, the modes themselves have establish provisions, valid e.g. only for the land mode or only for the sea or air mode. The paper will describe in particular latest changes of provisions for the transport of radioactive material within the regulations of the UN and the Modal Organizations independent from changes in the IAEA transport regulations. One example is the proposed change to the IMDG-Code for harmonization with other modes of transport with respect to the exclusion of class 7 material from Marine Pollutants / Environmentally Hazardous Substances requirements. Another example are latest changes to the special provisions within the UN and modal regulations, e.g. for packages containing radioactive material possessing other hazards, which are not part of the IAEA Transport Regulations, but which will effect them. Based on this the paper will analyse more globally which aspects need further consideration in the future for even more harmonization of the regulations of the IAEA, the UN and the modal organizations for the safe transport of radioactive material. Some conclusions in this regard will be provided.