IAEA Request for Comment on DS469

Atoms for Peace

Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria
Phone: (+43 1) 2600  Fax: (+43 1) 26007
Email: [email protected]  Internet: http://www.iaea.org
In reply please refer to: J5.03.1
Dial directly to extension: (+431) 2600-23320

The Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presents its compliments to the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the IAEA’s Member States and has the honour to request that they draw
the attention of the appropriate governmental authorities to the following draft safety standard:
Preparedness and Response for an Emergency during the Transport of Radioactive Material
(DS469)
Member States and their experts are hereby provided with an opportunity to review and evaluate this
draft safety standard, which is available online at:
https://www.iaea.org/resources/safety-standards/ms-comments
A hard copy of the draft text will be sent out upon request.
Any proposed changes to this draft text resulting from the review by Member States will be taken into
account in the finalization of the safety standard.
Member States are kindly requested to provide comments on the draft text following the guidance given
in the attached Explanatory Note.
The Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency avails itself of this opportunity to assure the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the IAEA’s Member States of its highest consideration.

2018-07-19

Enclosures: Explanatory Note
Form for Comments
Statement by the Commission on Safety Standards

Explanatory Note
Preparedness and Response for an Emergency during the Transport of Radioactive
Material
(DS469)
The draft text for review, entitled Preparedness and Response for an Emergency during the
Transport of Radioactive Material, was prepared as a draft Safety Guide to be issued in the IAEA Safety
Standards Series.
The draft text has already been reviewed through consultants’ meetings, as well as by the Emergency
Preparedness and Response Standards Committee (EPReSC), and also by the Transport Safety Standards
Committee (TRANSSC), the Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC) and the Nuclear Security
Guidance Committee (NSGC).
The objective of this draft text, as accepted by the Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), is to provide
guidance and recommendations on the implementation of the requirements established primarily in
Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency (IAEA Safety Standards Series No.
GSR Part 7, Vienna, 2015) and the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (IAEA
Safety Standards Series No. SSR 6, Vienna, 2012) in order to prepare for and respond to emergencies during
the transport of radioactive material.
The target audience is emergency planners and response organizations in Member States, including
regulatory bodies, national competent authorities, agencies for civil defence, civil protection and emergency
management, emergency responders, consignors, carriers, consignees, and others who are responsible for
developing and implementing emergency preparedness and response arrangements.
Comments are requested in relation to:


Relevance and usefulness: Are the stated objectives appropriate, and are they met by the draft text?



Scope and completeness: Is the scope appropriate, and is it adequately covered by the draft text?



Quality and clarity: Does the guidance in the draft text represent the current consensus among
specialists in the field, and is this guidance expressed clearly and coherently?

Comments of an editorial nature will be considered; however, it should be noted that the draft text will be
comprehensively edited by the IAEA Secretariat.
Any comments should be made in English, should refer to the relevant paragraph number in the draft text
being reviewed, and should propose alternative text where appropriate. Please use the attached Form for
Comments to record all comments.
The responsible IAEA officers are Mr Mark Breitinger and Mr Stephen Whittingham of the Department of
Nuclear Safety and Security, who may be contacted for further information in connection with this subject
by telephone at: +43 1 2600 23320 and +43 1 2600 21260 or via email at: [email protected] and
[email protected].
Any comments should be sent through the established official channels to the responsible IAEA officers
by 30 November 2018.

Form for Comments
Preparedness and Response for an Emergency during the Transport of Radioactive Material (DS469)
COMMENTS BY REVIEWER
Reviewer:
Country/Organization:
Comment No.

Para/Line
No.

RESOLUTION
Page.... of....
Date:

Proposed new text

Reason

Accepted

Accepted, but
modified as follows

Rejected

Reason for
modification/rejection

Statement by the Commission on Safety Standards
Publications in the IAEA Safety Standards Series are prepared and reviewed in accordance with a uniform
process. To this end, the Commission on Safety Standards (CSS) and five committees with harmonized terms
of reference have been established: the Emergency Preparedness and Response Standards Committee
(EPReSC), the Nuclear Safety Standards Committee (NUSSC), the Radiation Safety Standards Committee
(RASSC), the Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSSC) and the Waste Safety Standards Committee
(WASSC). The CSS has a special overview role with regard to the IAEA’s safety standards and provides
advice to the Director General on the IAEA’s overall programme with regard to regulatory aspects of safety.
The uniform preparation and review process involves organizing expert group meetings; arranging at different
stages of preparation for the internal review of draft texts; submitting the texts to the relevant Committee(s)
for review; submitting draft texts to the IAEA’s Member States for comment; and submitting the approved
final draft of the safety standard1 for endorsement by the CSS before publication.
The CSS stresses the importance of Member States’ comments to the preparation and review process for safety
standards. Publications in the IAEA Safety Standards Series not only should be of the requisite quality but also
should represent the consensus view of the Member States and should address the issues of importance to the
Member States. While the CSS, the Committees and the Secretariat strive to provide safety standards that
satisfy these criteria, the review of draft standards by experts in the Member States is an essential stage in
obtaining the broadest possible technical consensus and the highest possible quality and relevance.
Member States are also encouraged to provide the IAEA with feedback on their use of the safety standards.
The status of safety standards extant and in preparation can be seen on the IAEA’s website, where there are
also links to electronic files for existing publications, including those in other official languages.2 The
responsible IAEA officer is Mr Dominique Delattre, Head of the Safety and Security Publications Unit of the
Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. He may be contacted for further information in connection with
this subject by telephone at: + 43 1 2600 22696 or via email at: [email protected].

1

Safety Guides are published under the authority of the Director General. Safety Fundamentals and Safety Requirements
publications require the approval of the Board of Governors, after endorsement by the CSS.

2

See http://www-ns.iaea.org/committees/files/CSS/205/status.pdf.