Considerations on Safe Packaging and Risk Assessment Associated With Transportation of Nuclear Radioactive Wastes to the Disposal Center in Romania

Growing concern and awareness, and potential risks to human health and to the environment posed by radioactive waste, its management and disposal (temporary or final), have become important issues to consider in the use of nuclear materials. Romania, like other Member States, has adopted IAEA Transport Regulations on the safe transport of radioactive material ( IAEA, Safety Series No.6) as a basis for national regulations and for application to international radioactive material transportation. One of the most important basic tenets is that safety mostly relies on the package used and does not take into consideration the contribution to safety which may be made by other features of the transport operation, such as conveyance. If referring to Type A packages, they are required to be capable to resist routine and accident conditions of transport without loss of their contents or without allowing more than a specified increase in external surface radiation and must be designed to meet additional test requirements if the radioactive contents are under the form of a liquid or gas (INR Pitesti 1990).