Historical Background of the Development of Various Requirements in the International Regulations for the Safe Packaging and Transport of Radioactive Material

Questions are frequently asked regarding the source of some of the package test requirements in the Transport Regulations, the philosophy behind them and the basis for selecting them. This paper summarizes the results of a review of early historical documents and elaborates on the early philosophy behind the regulatory requirements. To the extent possible, the paper compares the early philosophy with the current structure of the Transport Regulations in key topic areas with a focus on the test requirements for packages that are designed to withstand accident conditions of transport.