EVALUATION OF THE RADIATION PROTECTION OPTIONS RELATED TO THE TRANSPORT OF LOW WEIGHT PACKAGES ·CATEGORY Ill YELLOW·

According to the IAEA transport regulations, all packages with a transport index exceeding I (and less than 10) or with a surface dose rate exceeding 0.5 mSv/h (and below 2 mSv/h) must be classified in the category m Yellow. This classification is independent of the size or weight of the package. As small packages are usually carried by hand, exposures are potentially significant Different proposals for reducing the surface dose rate of low weight packages were formulated at the IAEA. One of the options was to eliminate the category m Yellow for packages that are manually handled, inducing a decrease of the surface dose rate from 2 mSv/h to 0.5 mSv/h, although this proposal was not accepted at the last revision panel meetings. To assess the radiological benefit of such a measure, it is necessary to analyse the characteristics of the transport procedures in terms of packages (geometry, radiological contents, dose rates, ... ), annual traffic (number of conveyances, packages, distance, ... ) and characteristics of exposures (handling and transport processes, current individual and collective exposures). As the radiological benefit is not immediately evident, and taking into account the national context. the feasibility and desirability of adopting different surface dose rate limits have been investigated Furthermore, based on national experience, alternative or complementary measures dealing with modification of handling processes have been analysed.