Re: International shipping regs

[Gv1@AOL.COM]

It's been a while, but that title (TS-R-1) sounds like what is on the books 

now from the IAEA.  If you look in the back, it lists all of the nations that 

agree to international transport under these regs, however, some countries like 

the U.S. have some domestic regs that are different.



If you're shipping SNM, you're going to need an export declaration and 

approval from the NRC.  I'm not sure of all of the situations in which you'll need 

an export declaration from the Dept of Commerce, the form doesn't seem that 

friendly because it has some fields related to taxes and commerce that a radman 

is not typically exposed to.  In the end, an export declaration isn't that 

tough.  I believe we also had to have documents related to the declared value of 

the type B cask/freight container and the contents of the pkg.  



You may also need a certificate of competent authority from each country your 

package passes through.  For example, before we could ship a type B pkg to a 

specific country, we had to get a certificate from their competent authority 

(DOT in U.S.) to say the C of C and the contents of the pkg were acceptable.  

Potential significant lead time for a cert of comp auth, but typically you're 

consignee on the other end can help in their country.



I can't find the reference right now, but if you look at the manifesting 

requirements between the DOT and IAEA, there are subtle differences.  For example, 

you'll want to ensure the shipping name you use is acceptable to TS-R-1 and 

there are one or two additional entries required to be with the basic 

description we're use to.  The A2 values are slightly different for some radionuclides, 

and the philosophy of RQ is domestic only.  If you're going by sea, the IMDG 

is a carbon copy of the IAEA regs with the exception of some compatbility and 

loading restrictions and emergency response instructions.



HRCQ doesn't have an international meaning, so when your placarded freight 

container with the square background goes over seas, it's just a placard on a 

white panel.  However; when they ship it back empty, they need to know that the 

placard shouldn't have the square background...



Go through, I believe 172.200 shipping paper entries and TS-R-1 and make a 

table comparing and contrasting the regs.  Build the basic description and 

additional descriptors line by line and you'll find that an international manifest 

is essentially the same as a domestic manifest with a few additions.



Lastly, I put some money on the table to have a third party SME come in to 

check out my procedure for the specific type of international shipment I was 

involved in.  In the end, the manifesting, marking, and labelling were pretty 

straight forward, the processes related to exports and certificates for package 

approvals were the areas of real learning.



Glen