Establishing and Sustaining a Compliance Assurance Regime for Transport Safety in IAEA Member States

1. BackgroundWith the increasing volume of domestic and international transport of radioactive material, each State should establish appropriate regulatory infrastructure for Safety based on the IAEA Transport Regulations. To help the Member States in establishing an effective Compliance Assurance Programme the IAEA embarked upon the Technical Cooperation (TC) Project RAS 9/067-Strengthening an effective compliance assurance regime for transport safety for States in the Asia/Pacific region.2. Initial status of compliance assurance regimeThe Project was commenced with response of the participating States to the Self-Assessment of Regulatory Infrastructure for Safety (SARIS) questionnaire for Transport of Radioactive Material.Initially –Many States had neither a basic nuclear legislation nor transport regulations nor a source inventoryOperators were more visible than regulators in IAEA WorkshopsAll States required training programmesIn many States transport was regulated through an import /export control regime.3. ResultsUnder the RAS 9/067 project, 12 training courses/meetings/workshops were conducted in the region. Over 170 representatives from 36 countries participated. Now many States have initiated promulgation of basic nuclear legislation; some have issued transport regulations while some are updating them. Inspections are being undertaken more regularly. Local expertise for training transport workers is being developed. Some States have made impressive strides in establishing a compliance assurance programme. Some States are prepared to be \"resource States\" for the region. A regional network has been created to help sustain compliance assurance effectively.4. ConclusionsWhile much has been accomplished in the Region to improve the safety of radioactive material transport, there are still significant needs in many of the countries in the Region. Going forward, a general lack of resources will present significant challenges to countries that are at the beginning of their efforts to develop their infrastructure for transport safety. The Agency must be prepared to provide continued support to countries in the Region for progress to continue