Exclusions, exemptions and low specific activity material in the 1996 edition of the IAEA regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material

Exclusions and exemptions, total as well as partial, have always been part of the IAEA transport regulations, but these provisions were dispersed over various sections. In the 1996 edition of these regulations, some of these exclusions and exemptions have been kept unchanged, others have been changed and also, new ones have been added. This paper gives an overview of the exclusions and exemptions in the 1996 edition, the most important change with respect to the previous edition being the departure from the single exemption value of 70 Bq/g for all radionuclides to the radionuclide specific exemption values as specified in the IAEA Basic Safety Standards. As a consequence of this change, a new category of Low Specific Activity (LSA) material has been introduced. This paper also discusses the rationale of these changes to the regulations. (author)