THE APPLICATION OF DANGEROUS GOODS REGULATIONS TO THE TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES

Some radioactive materials to be transported, including certain radioactive wastes, contain materiitls that qualify as dangerous goods as defined by the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport ofDangerous Goods (United Nations 1997). The regulations governing the transport of radioactive and dangerous goods in the UK are largely based on the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (IAEA 1990) and the UN Recommendations (United Nations 1993). Additional legislation will also apply including the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (Driver Training) Regulations, 1996 (UK 1996). The IAEA Transport Regulations are clear that where radioactive materials have other dangerous properties the requirements of other relevant transport regulations for dangerous goods must also be met. They require that consignments are appropriately segregated from other dangerous goods, in accordance with relevant legislation, and that dangerous properties such as explosiveness, flammability etc. are taken into account in packing, labelling, marking, placarding, storage and transport. In practice, however, it requires a clear understanding of the relationship between the IAEA Transport Regulations and other dangerous goods legislation in order to avoid a number of problems in the approval of package design. This paper discusses the regulations applying to the transport of dangerous goods and explores practical problems assopiated with implementing them. It highlights a number of opportunities for developing the regulations, to make them easier to apply to radioactive materials that also have other potentially dangerous properties.