Considerations to improve quality assurance criteria: experience in the Federal Republic of Germany

Package design certificates of approval issued by the respective competent authorities are required for Type B packagings and packagings for Fissile Classes I, II and III. The certificate of approval testifies that the package design has met the requirements given by the 1973 IAEA regulations. But this also means that an unrestricted number of packagings can be manufactured. The certificate of approval covers all respective packagings during their lifetime. Only a comprehensive quality assurance program is able to verify the homogeneity of packagings during manufacturing and to assure the packaging, i.e., each individual packaging, meets safety standards during use, approved by re-inspection. Some inspections done by BAM showed that there is an urgent need for establishing a surveillance system, for corrosion phenomena, other wear characteristics and constructive changes done by the licensee could be observed. There will be another question if a packaging being in continuous use for several years still has the required physical properties and what to do with obsolete casks. A new regulatory guide in the FRG for the procedure of approving packagings for the transport of radioactive material will cover quality assurance during manufacturing and use. A close cooperation between manufacturers, competent organizations and competent authority leads to a complete surveillance including re-inspection of each packaging and will grant the continuously required safety standard