Progress towards the 1996 edition of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material: a waste management perspective

A well established review and revision process is now in place whereby the International Atomic Energy Agency's Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material undergo a comprehensive revision every ten years. The next Edition is scheduled for publication in 1996. Within this process, a large group of experts, known as the Revision Panel, provides instructions on the drafting of the revised Regulations and their supporting documents. The purpose of this paper is to outline the review and revision process and to give a brief, general account of the progress made, especially focussing on those issues that are of interest to transporters of waste. This paper will deal in the main with those issues that have been processed by the Panel, but will also refer to some topics that will reach the Panel in the future. (author)