There is a general requirement for emergency pro­visions to be made, so that appropriate protective actions can be taken in the event of transport accidents involving radioactive materials.

2.8.2 Regulatory position in the United Kingdom

Under the Radioactive Substances Act 1948 [16], the appropriate Minister may, as regards the transport of radioactive substances, make such regulations as appear necessary to prevent injury being caused. To this end, the IAEA Regulations have been adopted as the basis of current UK legislation.

The IAEA Regulations [12] require each member country to appoint a competent authority which in the case of Great Britain for transport by road, rail, air and sea, is the Secretary of State for Transport. The executive function of the competent authority is invested in the Transport Radiological Adviser of the Department of Transport (DTp).

Road transport was governed in general terms by the Radioactive Substances (Carriage by road) (Great

Britain) Regulations 1974 [17] with additional speci­fications tor the protection of road transport workers [18]. This situation changed in 1986 when new widely embracing Ionising Radiations Regulations were en­acted [19]. These Carriage by Road Regulations are amplified in a Code of Practice [20] which conforms generally to the IAEA Regulations. This code sets out to assist all concerned, and consignors in particular, to discharge their obligations under the law.

Transport by rail is covered by British Rail’s List of Dangerous Goods and Conditions of Acceptance [21] which require, except where otherwise provided in the conditions, compliance with the requirements of the IAEA Regulations.

There are separate International Agreements and Conventions covering various modes of transport when making shipments to and from the UK [22, 23, 24 and 25].

A guide for designers, manufacturers and users of packagings giving advice supplementary to, or in am­plification of, the IAEA recommendations [12,13] have been published by the British Standards Institution [26].

Transport on nuclear sites is governed by the site licences, which require nuclear matter to be carried either in appropriate containers of a type approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), or under rules or arrangements made by the licensee and ap­proved by the HSE. The despatch of nuclear matter from the site is similarly controlled.

Insurance for the carriage of nuclear materials, with some exemptions, is required under the Nuclear In­stallations Act 1965 [27,28]. However, individual co­pies of the Certificates of Financial Security need only be provided by CEGB to the organisations involved, for transport outside the territorial limits of the UK.