Radioactive material has a wide range of applications, and as a result, millions of packages containing radioactive material are transported every year by rail, road, sea, air or inland waterway. This includes the movement of containers (casks) carrying spent nuclear fuel from operating and decommissioning nuclear reactors and sealed radioactive sources, which are used widely in medicine, industry, and agriculture.
Effective preparedness and response for transport emergencies involving radioactive material is thus a topic that has broad relevance for all countries, irrespective of whether they have a nuclear power programme.
To heighten awareness of this topic, two trainings on the new guide were carried out last year, with at least two more planned for 2022.
“A transport emergency is different than an emergency in a fixed facility. A transport emergency can take place anywhere, in the middle of a busy city, or in a remote location where first responders may be hours away,” said Luis Portugal, Head of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit of the Portuguese Environment Agency, who contributed to the development of the training in conjunction with the IAEA. “When we designed the training, we wanted to raise awareness in the emergency preparedness and response community, and the transport safety community, of the particularities of an emergency occurring during the transport of radioactive materials and how these can impact the planning for, and response to, any event,” he added.
“The transport safety regulatory requirements set out in the IAEA Safety Standard Series — SSR-6 (Rev.1) — have benefitted from continuous review and development since they were first introduced in 1961. Complemented by the IAEA safety requirements in the IAEA General Safety Requirements Part 7, they help in effective regulation of transport safety and establishment of effective emergency arrangements during the transport of radioactive material,” said Stephen Whittingham, former Head of the Transport Safety Unit in the Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety. “With this Safety Guide and associated training material supporting the implementation of these two sets of safety requirements, we contribute further to their practical implementation in countries to protect the public and the environment effectively from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.”
