LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: WORKING TO MAKE DENIALS OF SHIPMENT A THING OF THE PAST

Denial of shipment has been a concern since the first transport regulations were written; as evidenced in that the first document from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s first General Conference mentioned the necessity of common regulations to avoid differences that could make the transport of radioactive material difficult. Nevertheless, it was in 2003 when the International Conference on the Safety of Transport of Radioactive Material noted that industries using radioactive material were facing reduced availability of transport routes, modes and carriers, thus making Denial of Shipment of radioactive material an issue for the IAEA. The Agency’s General Conference has been particularly interested in this subject, and this interest was reflected in successive resolutions throughout several years welcoming efforts made, and encouraging and urging further work to facilitate the transport of Class 7 goods complying with IAEA´s Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. An International Steering Committee on Denials of Shipment of Radioactive Material (ISCDOS) was constituted by the end of 2006 with the mandate of developing a comprehensive Action Plan to facilitate the global transport of radioactive materials. Two key actions instituted by the ISCDOS through the IAEA have been the establishment of the National Focal Point (NFP) and Regional Coordinator roles. At present, the main objective of ISCDOS is to reduce the number of denials of shipment to the level of no importance by 2013, the year marking the end of ISCDOS’ formal functions. This paper summarizes the actions taken recently and provisions developed for addressing the issue of denial of shipment of radioactive material in the future.