An international regulatory regime for the safe packaging and transport of all radioactive materials, including those materials associated with the nuclear fuel cycle, is well established. This regime is sound and long-standing; it focuses on safety in the transport of radioactive materials. In addition, a set of recommendations and guidance exist for security in the transport of these materials.

It is noted that there are some subtleties in the definitions of the two English terms — safety and security, These subtleties can lead to confusion, especially when dealing with languages other than English. In fact, in some languages (e. g. Spanish) safety and security are expressed by the same word. Thus, the following discussion focuses on the English language meaning of these two terms because that is the language in which requirements, recommendations and guidance for both safety and security during transport are developed at the international level by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other international governmental organizations including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The IAEA Safety Glossary (IAEA, 2007a) defines these two terms as follows:

• Safety is the ‘achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards ’ ; whereas

• Security is the ‘prevention and detection of, and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access, illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material, other radioactive substances or their associated facilities’.

Based upon these definitions, and for the purposes of packaging and transport of radioactive material, these two terms are treated herein as follows: (a) safety relates to the protection of people and the environment during normal operations as well as in the event of accidents, whereas (b) security relates to the protection of people and the environment from malicious, intentional actions by man.

The following provides a brief summary of the international regulatory regime that addresses safety in the packaging and transport of all radioactive materials (which include materials associated with the nuclear fuel cycle), noting how regulatory requirements devolve downward from international organizations, starting with the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, TS-R-1 (IAEA, 2009a), to regulatory requirements promulgated by individual regulatory bodies at the STATE (i. e. country) level.