Proposal of a New Structure for the IAEA Transport Regulations

The IAEA Transport Regulations were issued for the first time in 1961 as “Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material”, after more than 50 years it has become one of the most used Safety Standards published by the Agency, and adopted by the UN Model Regulations and all Modal Regulations to regulate the transport of radioactive material.Although widely used, it has never been user friendly. This is a characteristic that developing countries find difficult to deal with when establishing national regulations for the safe transport of class 7 materials. The IAEA regulations can be challenging to understand, which increases the potential for making mistakes when implementing them at the national level.Taking into account the popularity and overall good acceptance of the guidance safety standard SSG-33 “Schedules of Provisions of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, 2012 Edition” and its predecessors, this paper proposes a new structure for transport regulations based on the structure of those schedules. The new structure will greatly simplify the understanding and adoption of the appropriate SSR-6 requirements based upon the characterization of the radioactive material and determination of the proper UN number. The requirements are then identified for each UN number.