Safety considerations during transport of radioactive material

Abstract

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regulations establish requirements that must be satisfied to ensure safety and to protect people, property and the environment from the effects of ionisation radiation during the transport of radioactive material (RAM). The package types A and B most frequently used for the transport of RAM in Romania are subjected to various qualification tests in accordance with the National Regulations and IAEA recommendations; these tests are carried out by the Reliability and Testing Laboratory of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Pitesti. These tests include the evaluation of non-fixed contamination, as is described in the present paper. Regulatory requirements related to contamination for packages used for transport and storage of RAM and the method used to monitor the evaluation of the surface contamination of packages are also presented. These test requirements are performed under a strict quality assurance programme based on specific procedures given prior approval by the Romanian Nuclear Regulatory Body (National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control).