Glossary of Terms

Terms used in the area of transport of radioactive material are listed in Section 136 of Act. No. 263/2016 Coll. and in Section 2 of Decree No. 379/2016 Coll. If considered for helpful these terms are further clarified:

a) the value A₁ is the value of activity of special form radioactive material listed in Table 2 of Annex 3 to this decree, or stipulated pursuant to Points 3 to 7 of Annex 3 to Decree No. 379/2016 Coll., and used to stipulate activity limits for purposes of carriage;  

b) the value A₂ is the value of activity of an other than special form radioactive material listed in Table 2 of Annex 3 to Decree No. 379/2016 Coll., or stipulated pursuant to Points 3 to 7 of Annex 3 to this decree, and used to stipulate activity limits for purposes of carriage;    

c) a package is packaging with its radioactive content. The types of packages are: 

d) a confinement system is the organisation of fissile material in packaging or the organisation of part of packaging in a manner necessary to control criticality;   

e) a containment system is the organisation of part of packaging in a manner necessary to prevent the escape of the radioactive or fissile material during transport;   

f) a freight container is a device for the carriage of packaged or unpackaged products via one or more modes of transport without the handling of individual items of its contents that has a permanent closure, is sufficiently durable for repeated use and has equipment that permits its handling, especially its transfer among means of transport from one mode of transport to another; freight containers are broken down into   

1. small container with all external dimensions of less than 1.5 m or with an internal volume of less than 3 m³;   
2. intermediate bulk container for unpackaged substances or items, which is mechanical portable container whose resistance to stress during handling and transport is verified by testing, and with an internal volume of no greater than 3 m³; 
3. large container, which is any container not meeting the definitions in Points 1 and 2;

g) an overpack is a protective case used by one carrier as one handling unit to facilitate the transport of one or more packages;

h) a consignment is all packages or packagings or a load of radioactive or fissile substances handed over by the carrier for transport;

i) exclusive use is the use of a conveyance or large container by one carrier, whose instructions govern all loading and unloading activity during the entire course of carriage;

j) a low specific activity material (LSA) is a radioactive material whose own specific activity is naturally limited, or a radioactive material whose mean specific activity has been intentionally limited;

k) a low toxicity radionuclide source emitting alpha radiation is natural uranium, depleted uranium, natural thorium, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ²²⁸Th, and ²³⁰Th contained in ores or in physical or chemical concentrates, or other radionuclide sources emitting alpha radiation with transformation half-lives of less than 10 days;   

l) maximum normal operating pressure is the maximum overpressure that can occur in a retention system over the course of one year at a temperature and sunlight corresponding to ambient conditions during transport, assuming no ventilation, external cooling via an auxiliary system, or operating check during transport occur;  

m) a surface contaminated object (SCO) is a solid object that is not itself radioactive but which has radioactive or fissile material distributed on its surface;  

n) unirradiated thorium is thorium containing not more than 10-7 g ²³³U per gram of ²³²Th;  

o) unirradiated uranium is uranium containing not more than 2000 Bq of plutonium per gram of ²³⁵U, at most 9.10⁶ Bq of fission products per gram of ²³⁵U, and at most 0,005 g ²³⁶U per gram of ²³⁵U;   

p) uranium  

1. natural uranium, including chemically separated uranium, containing uranium isotopes in the following distribution: approximately 99.28 % by mass of ²³⁸U, approximately 0.72 % by mass of ²³⁵U, and an insignificant mass percentage of ²³⁴U;  
2. depleted uranium with a smaller mass percentage of ²³⁵U than natural uranium; depleted uranium also contains an insignificant mass percentage of ²³⁴U;  
3. enriched uranium with a higher mass percentage of ²³⁵U than 0.72 %; enriched uranium also contains an insignificant mass percentage of ²³⁴U;

q) routine conditions of carriage are conditions during which no radiation emergency occurs;

r) normal conditions of carriage are conditions during which a radiation emergency simulated by tests pursuant to Points 19 to 25 of Part II of Annex 1 to Decree No. 379/2016 Coll. occurs;

s) accident conditions of carriage are conditions during which a radiation emergency simulated by tests pursuant to Points 26 to 37 of Part II of Annex 1 to Decree No. 379/2016 Coll. occurs.  

t) criticality safety index (CSI) means an indicator which is used to provide control over the accumulation of packaging assemblies or containers containing fissile material in order to maintain subcriticality of fissile material during transport and transport-related storage,  

u) packaging means the assembly of components necessary to enclose the radioactive contents completely. Following types of packagings are defined - packaging for excepted package, IP-1,  IP-2, IP-3, A, B(U), B(M), C, D, S.

v) carrier means the holder of a licence for carriage, if the carriage is subject to a licence under this Act, or the person referred to as the consignor in transport documents,  

w) transport index (TI) means the number assigned by the carrier to a packaging assembly, overpack, container, unpackaged substance with low activity concentration or unpackaged surface-contaminated articles and used to provide control over radiation exposure. It is derived in accordance with the following procedure:

1. 0.4 mSv/h for ores and physical concentrates of uranium and thorium;

2. 0.3 mSv/h for chemical concentrates of thorium;

3. 0.02 mSv/h for chemical concentrates of uranium, other than uranium hexafluoride;

x) consignee of radioactive waste or spent fuel means the person to whom radioactive waste or spent fuel is planned to be or being shipped,

y) State of origin of radioactive waste or spent fuel means the State from which a shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel is planned to be initiated or is initiated, 

z) State of destination of radioactive waste or spent fuel means the State to which a shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuelis planned or takes place,  

aa) State of transit of radioactive waste or spent fuel means a State other than the State of origin or the State of destination, through the territory of which a shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel is planned or takes place,  

bb) fissile material means isotopes of uranium ²³³U or ²³⁵U, or isotopes of plutonium ²³⁹Pu or ²⁴¹Pu or any combination of these radionuclides, except unirradiated natural uranium or depleted uranium and natural uranium or depleted uranium which have only been irradiated in thermal reactors only,  

cc) surface contamination means the occurrence of a radioactive substance on a surface in a quantity exceeding 0.4 Bq/cm2 for radionuclide sources emmiting beta or gamma exposure and for low toxic radionuclide sources emmiting alpha exposure, or 0.04 Bq/cm2 for all other radionuclide sources emmiting alpha exposure;surface contamination may be

1. non-fixed, which means surface contamination that can be removed by normal means, or  
2. fixed, which means surface contamination other than non-fixed contamination,

dd) low dispersible radioactive material means a radioactive substance in solid form, which is not powder form and which, whether alone or in a sealed capsule, has limited dispersibility, 

ee) special form radioactive material means an indispersible solid radioactive substance or a sealed capsule containing a radioactive substance,  

ff) radioactive contents mean a radioactive substance together with any contaminated or activated solids, liquids and gases within a packaging assembly.