COORDINATED RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE “APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF REGULATORY CONTROL FOR THE SAFE TRANSPORT OF NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL (NORM)”

In 2006, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) established a Coordinated Research Programme (CRP) on Safety of Transport of Radioactive Material in response to the recommendation made by the IAEA Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSSC) “to examine the adequacy of the current safety standards pertaining to the transport of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)”. The CRP considered research studies from nine countries related to the transport of a variety of NORM. The research areas provide full coverage of the subject, including exposures to both the public and workers. One important consideration to the work of the CRP is consideration of the basis of the current exemption levels for transport of NORM; namely, the basis for the 10× larger exemption level of 10 Bq/g for NORM not intended for the extraction of radionuclides, is unclear. Details of the research, outcome, conclusions, and potential applications to transport regulations will be presented in this paper