ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

Edition 1 of the National Directory for Radiation Protection was developed by the Radiation Health Committee and published in August 2004. It was subsequently endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers' Conference (AHMC) as the uniform national framework for radiation protection in Australia.

Following publication of Edition 1, the Radiation Health Committee (RHC) agreed that further progression of the Directory would be by individual amendments, and that the consolidated version of the Directory would be maintained as an electronic document via ARPANSA's website. The current consolidated version is available for download below, as well as the individual amendments. Updated printed versions of the Directory will be published intermittently.  The current Directory includes amendments up to and including amendment 5, agreed by the RHC July 2010 and endorsed by Ministers June 2011.  

Further amendments to the Directory are in development by the Radiation Health Committee and will be published in due course.

Download the consolidated version of the National Directory (July 2011)

RPS No. 6 - National Directory for Radiation Protection (NDRP) July 2011 (PDF 646k)

Download the individual amendments

• Amendment No. 1 (PDF 83k) - Codes of Practice and Radiation Protection Standards - Approved by RHC 15 February 2008, Endorsed by Ministers, December 2009
• Amendment No. 2 (PDF 131k) - Exclusions and Exemptions - Approved by RHC 16 July 2008, Endorsed by Ministers, December 2009
• Amendment No. 3 (PDF 61k) - Codes of Practice and Radiation Protection Standards - Approved by RHC 16 July 2008, Endorsed by Ministers, December 2009
• Amendment No. 4 (PDF 48k) - Solaria - Approved by RHC 18 March 2009, Endorsed by Ministers, April 2010
• Amendment No. 5 (PDF 284k) - Radiation Protection Principles, Adoption of Veterinary and Chiropractic Codes, and other matters - Approved by RHC 14-15 July 2010, Endorsed by Ministers, June 2011

National Directory for Radiation Protection Edition 1 (published August 2004)

Download Edition 1 (PDF 817k) of the National Directory. Printed copies of Edition 1 of the Directory are available for purchase directly from ARPANSA at a cost of AUD$32.00 per copy (incl. GST and postage). Printed copies will include inserts of all current amendments.

Download an ORDER FORM to purchase publications in the Radiation Protection Series.

Background

In August 1999, AHMC endorsed the development of the NDRP as the means of achieving uniformity in radiation protection practices between Australian jurisdictions. The Radiation Health Committee (RHC) prepared the NDRP for approval by AHMC via a process for issues resolution that included meeting the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) requirements for national standard setting. Members of the RHC include representatives from all States and Territories and the Commonwealth.

Ministers recognised that a variety of agencies such as mines, occupational health and safety and transport agencies have a legislated responsibility for aspects of radiation safety in many jurisdictions and, as such, these other agencies would need to be actively involved in measures to progress national uniformity, including the development of the NDRP. The development of the NDRP was also supported by the recommendations of the National Competition Policy (NCP) Review of Radiation Protection Legislation (May 2001), which was endorsed by all participating jurisdictions. Queensland did not participate in the NCP Review, but endorsed the recommendations relating to uniformity.

Purpose

The purpose of the NDRP is therefore to provide nationally uniform and agreed:

• requirements for the protection of people and the environment against exposure or potential exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation; and
• requirements for the safety of radiation sources, including provision for the national adoption of codes and standards.
• clear regulatory statements for adoption by the Commonwealth, States and Territories into their legislation.

AHMC agreed that upon consideration and approval of the provisions of the NDRP, the regulatory elements of the NDRP would be adopted in each jurisdiction as soon as possible, using existing Commonwealth/State/Territory regulatory frameworks.

Process

The NDRP was developed to address the needs of radiation protection regulators but it will also benefit other sectors involved in implementing radiation controls, such as mining and occupational health and safety regulators.

The development of the NDRP involved full consultation with stakeholders including:

• as part of the focussed consultation within the NCP Review in March 2001;
• Government consultation within each of the jurisdictions in February 2002;
• the release of a discussion draft for public consultation from December 2002 to January 2003; and
• the preparation of a Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) (PDF 458k) and a further period of public comment on both the RIS and the consultation draft (PDF 839k). This second public comment period took place from March to April 2004.

As AHMC had already made a decision to develop the NDRP, the RIS analysed the impact of provisions of the NDRP and not other regulatory options.

As the Directory will be completed in stages, some sections of Edition 1 do not contain details of radiation protection requirements or guidelines. Where this is the case, a short commentary has been provided on what can be expected in future editions of the Directory.

Following the consideration of public comment and preparation of a revised version, the RHC approved the draft NDRP out-of-session on 20 May 2004. The draft NDRP was submitted to  Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council (AHMAC) on 10 June and subsequently to AHMC for approval at its 29 July 2004 meeting. At the meeting, AHMC endorsed this version of the NDRP as the uniform national framework for radiation protection in Australia. Ministers noted that further cost-benefit analysis is being undertaken sufficient to meet the statutory requirements in each jurisdiction, and that Edition 1 will not apply to mining and mineral processing industries. Mining and mineral processing has been omitted from Edition 1 pending further consultation with the industry, completion of the Code of Practice on mining and mineral processing, development of a process for consideration of exemptions and specification of incident reporting requirements in the industry.

The additional cost-benefit analysis (PDF 289k) was undertaken and a  Final Regulatory Impact Statement (PDF 462k) completed in January 2005 after officers in all jurisdictions confirmed that the analysis met their legislative requirements. AHMAC confirmed in June 2005 that the updated RIS and cost-benefit analysis met their earlier requirement and agreed to advise Ministers that implementation of the Directory should proceed in all jurisdictions. In December 2005 Ministers confirmed out of session that the cost-benefit analysis met requirements and implementation of the Directory should proceed.

Structure of the NDRP

• PART A - sets out the agreed principles and overall framework for radiation protection in Australia. It is expected that jurisdictions will adopt these principles as reviews of legislation come forward.
• PART B - contains the uniform regulatory elements, which are to be adopted by each jurisdiction, within its particular regulatory framework.
• PART C - contains guidance that will assist regulators in adopting consistent approaches, but is not regulatory in nature.

Review of the NDRP - Edition 1

In April 2007, the Radiation Health Committee (RHC) made a request to the Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council to undertake a review of the efficiency and effectiveness of the NDRP - Edition 1. A review of this type, to be held after 3 years operation had been agreed during the development process of the NDRP.

The review was completed in September 2008, and Council's advice the to CEO and RHC is available at RHSAC Statements.

Amendments

Following publication of NDRP Edition 1, the Radiation Health Committee agreed that progression of the NDRP would be by individual amendments,with regulatory impact assessment and consultation requirements being dealt with separately for each amendment.

For Amendment 1, the regulatory impact assessment requirements had been met in the development of the individual Codes and Standards and no separate regulatory impact assessment process was required.

For Amendment 2, a Preliminary Assessment (PDF 445k) was undertaken which showed that the changes had low or no impact.

For Amendment 3, the regulatory impact assessment requirements were met during development of the Code.

For Amendment 4, a draft amendment and a draft regulatory impact statement were released for public comment in October 2008. Ten submisisions were received.

• Public Consultation Draft - Amendment No. 4, Solaria (PDF 189k)
• Public Consultation Draft - Amendment No. 4, Solaria - Regulatory Impact Statement (PDF 218k)
• Public Submissions and Working Group Responses - Amendment No. 4 (PDF 308k)
• Final Regulatory Impact Statement (PDF 412k) - Approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation December 2008

For Amendment 5, a draft amendment (PDF 44k), accompanied by a  Best Practice Regulation Preliminary Assesment (PDF 342k) were released for public comment in December 2009.

Top of Page