ASSESSMENT OF COUNTRY IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS FOR THE SAFE TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

Media discussions in the mid-1990’s about the safety of radioactive material transport have resulted in this issue being addressed annually since 1997 by the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In 1998 the General Conference passed a resolution inviting countries shipping radioactive material to provide, as appropriate, assurances to potentially affected States upon their request that their national regulations take into account the Agency’s Regulations; and requested the IAEA Director General to report to the General Conference about the global status of implementation of the IAEA Transport Regulations. The IAEA Secretariat undertook a survey in 1999 and again in early 2000 of its Member States’ implementation of the IAEA Transport Regulations. In both attempts, response to the IAEA questionnaire was low, representing approximately one-half of the countries that are IAEA Member States. In 2000, the General Conference, noting the results of a the second survey, passed another resolution encouraging Member States to bring their national regulatory documents governing the transport of radioactive material in line with the 1996 Edition of the IAEA Transport Regulations. It also requested the IAEA Secretariat to again seek information regarding how Member States regulate the transport of radioactive material, and to publish that information on the Agency’s transport safety web page. This paper describes the steps being taken by the IAEA Secretariat to obtain the information that will be published on the Agency’s transport safety web page and describes the results – to-date – of the 2001 survey of Member States’ implementation of the Transport Regulations.