Around 20 million shipments of radioactive and nuclear material take place each year globally to meet the growing demand for the peaceful use of nuclear technology worldwide.
“Before and after its use in medicine, industry, agriculture, energy, research and education, the material needs to be transported to the relevant facilities,” said Stephen Whittingham, Head of the IAEA Transport Safety Unit. “Compliance with international and national safety requirements and security guidance provides the necessary assurances that people, property and the environment are protected during transport, enabling societies to benefit from the many applications of nuclear science and technology.”
Meeting the necessary standards of safety and security requires governments to develop and maintain a robust, effective and efficient transport safety and security infrastructure. The conference will focus on six themes in this area, providing the opportunity to participants to share their experience and discuss the latest trends:
- international framework for transport safety and transport security,
- national regulatory framework for the transport of nuclear and radioactive materials,
- industry perspective of implementing transport safety and security regulatory requirements,
- sustainability of safety and security regime,
- emerging technologies,
- international cooperation and regional approaches.
During this event, participants will have the opportunity to further develop their understanding of the issues relating to transport safety, transport security and the interface between the two, as well as engage with one another to share lessons learned and best practices to develop or strengthen their regulatory infrastructures in this area.
“While transport safety aims to protect the public from accidental radioactive release from a package, the goal of transport security is to protect nuclear and other radioactive material with locks, seals and other technologies and methods to ensure it does not fall into the wrong hands,” said David Ladsous, Head of the IAEA Transport Security Unit. “The interface between safety and security in this area is paramount and requires effective coordination between national and international authorities at all levels. This will be a focus of the upcoming conference.”
Those wishing to present a paper at the conference need to submit an abstract of 150 words in electronic format through the conference’s web browser-based file submission system (IAEA-INDICO). The abstract should be submitted before the extended deadline of 15 July 2021. Further information about the themes and associated topics can be found here.
The IAEA especially encourages abstract submissions from young professionals. Prospective conference participants who are under the age of 37 and relatively early in their careers may receive grants to attend the conference.
Sarah Henry Bolt, IAEA Department of Nuclear Safety and Security