Authorised radioactive contents of packages: how to maximise simultaneously safety and flexibility?

Packages for the transport of radioactive material are required to comply with national and / or international regulations. These regulations are widely based on the requirements set forth by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the \"Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material\". \"The objective of these Regulations is to protect persons, property and the environment from the effects of radiation during the transport of radioactive material. This protection is achieved by requiring: (a) containment of the radioactive contents; (b) control of external radiation levels; (c) prevention of criticality; and (d) prevention of damage caused by heat.\" Some of the package designs require an approval by the applicable Competent Authority(ies). The application for package approval includes \"a specification of the authorised radioactive content, including any restrictions on the radioactive contents which might not be obvious from the nature of the packaging\". The required “specification of the authorised radioactive content” must include assurance that the material that is actually transported meets the four above-mentioned requirements. For that purpose, the choice of the parameters of the specification is crucial: they should be of such a nature that they can be checked before shipment to allow demonstration of compliance with the above-mentioned requirements. From our experience, it is appropriate to consider parameters that have the most direct influence on the compliance with the requirements. It is worthwhile to consider, for instance and when possible, direct measurement for the assessment of compliance with a requirement. A typical example is measurement of radiation exposure: it can provide a confident level of verification of the external radiation level, regardless of other parameters such as the activity. The paper presents our experience, particularly in France and in the USA, to demonstrate that it is possible to adequately define the authorised radioactive contents in order to maximise simultaneously the allowable contents and the demonstration of the compliance with the safety goals.