ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

The regulation of radiation protection, like all other areas of public safety in Australia, is undertaken through national and state and territory regulatory controls. This means that each of these jurisdictions administers their own radiation protection legislation. Radiation protection legislation typically includes the following areas:

• setting maximum dose limits
• licensing of people to undertake practices using radiation
• registration of radiation emitting equipment
• safety procedures
• responsibilities
• powers of inspection for the regulator
• enforcement provisions and penalties

The Commonwealth legislation on radiation protection and nuclear safety (the ARPANS Act) is administered by ARPANSA and is the basis for the regulation of Commonwealth entities such as ANSTO, CSIRO, the Department of Defence and the Australian National University.

Legislation in each jurisdiction is used by state and territory governments to regulate non-Commonwealth entities such as hospitals, universities and industry users of radioactive sources.

Radiation regulators in state and territory governments can be found in either the health portfolios or environment protection agencies of each jurisdiction.

 

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