ESTABLISHING STANDARDS

The IAEA transport-safety standards form part of a de facto interna-tional system of radiation safety standards that works as follows.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) constitute the basis of the system. Within the UN family, UNSCEAR provides estimates of health effects attributable to ionizing radiation exposure, which form the basis of all radiation safety standards. These estimates are reported yearly to the UN General Assembly. The ICRP — a professional scientific non-governmental organization — makes recommenda-tions on protection against the detrimental effects attributable to ionizing radiation. The IAEA’s Board of Governors has requested that, in preparing its safety standards, the IAEA take account of ICRP’s recommendations.

The scientific findings of UNSCEAR and ICRP are provided to the IAEA, which then establishes international radiation safety standards.

BACKGROUND SESSION 51

The IAEA’s process for establishing such safety standards is necessarily complex. Four technical committees are involved: the Nuclear Safety Standards Committee, the Radiation Safety Standards Committee, the Waste Safety Standards Committee and the Transport Safety Standards Committee, this last being the relevant committee in the area of safety of transport of radioactive material. Membership of the committees is open to senior experts nominated by Member States of the IAEA. The committees, drawing on the expertise of their members, prepare the basic drafts of the standards, which are submitted for review to a Commission on Safety Standards, mainly constituted by senior officers of national regulatory bodies. After the Commission has endorsed the safety standards, they are submitted to the IAEA’s Board of Governors for formal approval.

The IAEA standards have a hierarchical structure with three levels:

fundamentals, requirements, and guides. The more important transport-related documents in the hierarchy are:

— The Radiation Protection Fundamentals (Safety Series No. 120, issued in 1996), which spell out the basic policy of radiation safety and were co-sponsored by all relevant organizations within the UN family;

— The International Basic Safety Standards for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (Safety Series No. 115, issued in 1996), co-sponsored by all relevant organizations within the UN family;

— The Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (issued in 1996 as Safety Standards Series No. ST-1 and re-issued, with minor editorial changes, in 2000 as Safety Standards Series No. TS-R-1 (ST-1 Revised)), which were prepared in cooperation with transport-related organizations with the UN family;

— A large number of safety guides containing instructions directly and indirectly related to transport safety (e.g. on occupational radiation protection).

Given the international dimension of transport, after approval, the transport safety standards established by the IAEA are incorporated into the UN Model Regulations for the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Within the UN family, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the body that, as early as 1961, requested the IAEA to establish transport safety standards, and the development of the UN Model Regulations is the responsibility of ECOSOC. The UN Model Regulations apply to all nine classes of dangerous goods, and the standards of the IAEA serve as the sole input for the so-called

“Class 7 radioactive material”.

52 GONZÁLEZ

The UN Model Regulations (and, therefore, the IAEA standards) provide the basis for safety codes for various modes of transport. These are issued by so-called “modal organizations”, agencies within the UN that deal with various transport modes. They include the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which issues Technical Instructions for air transport, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which issues the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code for maritime transport. (For these two modes of transport in particular, the IAEA’s standards become mandatory via those documents.)

In addition, there are regional bodies that produce regulations for transport of dangerous goods by road, rail and inland waterways. In the case of inland waterways, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) incorpo-rates the IAEA standards into the European Agreement for the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods on Inland Waterways. The ECE also incorpo-rates the standards into similar regulatory documents relating to road transport. All of these are implemented in accordance with national under-takings, agreements or conventions.

On the basis of these various international requirements, norms are derived for the fabrication of packages and for transport operations. For example, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has the responsibility of establishing norms used by the industry. In the case of air transport, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issues the codes that apply the standards to operation of its associated carrier companies.

Figure 1 shows how the stream of knowledge and specifications flows.

The smooth completion of this convoluted process takes time: for instance, the incorporation of the 1996 IAEA Transport Regulations into the UN Model Regulations took three years.

An important aspect of this international system of safety standards for the transport of radioactive material is its universality: the IAEA’s transport safety standards are applied almost all over the world.

Moreover, the international system can show impressive achievements. In its latest report, UNSCEAR did not report on the impact of transport operations, as their radiological consequences are negligible in comparison with those of other sources of radiation exposure around the world.

4. UNDERTAKINGS

It should be noted, however, that the IAEA radiation safety standards for transport and their derivatives — the UN Model Regulations, the codes of modal organizations and the norms issued by industry organizations — are not

BACKGROUND SESSION 53

legally binding, except on certain organizations of Member States pursuant to specific commitments. While there are several legally binding undertakings in the area of transport safety (including the Chicago Convention for air transport, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for maritime transport), no convention is specifically related to the safety of transport of radioactive material.

However, in relation to radiation safety in general, four main legally binding undertakings, while not being specific to transport activities, can, mutatis mutandis, be applied to transport operations:

— the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (the Early Notification Convention),

— the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (the Assistance Convention),

— the Convention on Nuclear Safety,

— the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the Joint Convention).

FIG. 1. Stream of knowledge.

Provides UN’s estimates on

the health effects attributable to radiation

Recommends radiation protection guidance

IAEA establishes IAEA establishes safety standards safety standards

FIG. 1. The process of establishing standards.

54 GONZÁLEZ

The Early Notification Convention is certainly applicable to transport: if a transport accident involving transboundary releases of radioactive material occurs, notification must be given. The Assistance Convention also applies: if a transport accident occurs, assistance can be requested.

In addition, a number of obligations under the Joint Convention relate to transport, because movements of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel are covered in the Joint Convention.