Development of a Safety-based Cost-Justified Regulatory Development and Review Process for International Regulations

It is truly a pleasure to have the opportunity to address so many people with the responsibility of meeting the daily challenges presented by the continued safe transportation of radioactive materials. Mr. Alan Roberts, the DOT's Associate Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration for Hazardous Materials Safety, could not be here today but asked me to express his best wishes for a successful conference. He also asked me to share with you what we in the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety see as two of the most important needs of the international nuclear transportation community: first, the need to better communicate with the public about the safety of radioactive materials transportation, and second, the need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the IAEA regulatory development, review, and approval process by adopting a formal regulatory analysis policy. No matter what your individual transportation role or responsibility may be, I believe you sometimes cannot help feeling frustrated that the public does not support radioactive materials transportation. For a person knowledgeable of the IAEA transport regulations, the nuclear industry, and the exemplary safety record of the radioactive materials transportation industry, it is difficult to understand the active as well as the tacit opposition to industry's activities. When, however, we recognize that people tend to overestimate the risks associated with threats of which they have little knowledge and that the nuclear industry repeatedly faces the same challenges, we should also recognize the great opportunity we have to improve the general public's awareness and knowledge of the safety provided by the transport regulations.