ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

This Page:

• Do you require a Licence under the ARPANS Act 1998?
• What Are prohibited activities?
• What are conducts and dealings requiring a licence?
• How do I work out if a licence is required for my non-ionising apparatus?
• Need more guidance?
• Exemptions
• How to seek an exemption from a source licence–(ionising radiation only)

Do you require a Licence under the ARPANS Act 1998?

The ARPANS Act 1998 applies to "controlled persons" who undertake activities in relation to nuclear installations or prescribed radiation facilities and dealings with controlled material or controlled apparatus.

In section 13, the Act defines “controlled persons” as:

• a Commonwealth entity;

  This term is further defined in the legislation and includes:

  • Commonwealth Departments
    (eg Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade);
  • bodies corporate established for a public purpose by or under an Act (eg CSIRO, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation);
  • a company in which a controlling interest is held by the Commonwealth (eg Telstra); and
  • an employee of a person or body covered by any of the above.
• a Commonwealth contractor;

  Means a person (other than a Commonwealth entity) who is a party to a contract with a Commonwealth entity. Refer to section 11 of the ARPANS Act 1998 for further information.

• an employee of a Commonwealth contractor; and
• a person in a prescribed Commonwealth place.

If you don't fit one of these definitions then you may need a licence with one of the state or territory regulators.

What Are Prohibited Activities?

Prohibition on certain nuclear installations

1. Nothing in the Act is to be taken to authorise the construction or operation of any of the following nuclear installations:
   1. a nuclear fuel fabrication plant;
   2. a nuclear power plant;
   3. an enrichment plant;
   4. a reprocessing facility.
2. The CEO must not issue a licence under section 32 of the Act in respect of any of the facilities mentioned above.

Construction, operation etc. of nuclear installations or prescribed radiation facilities

1. A controlled person must not do any of the following:
   1. prepare a site for a controlled facility;
   2. construct a controlled facility;
   3. have possession or control of a controlled facility;
   4. operate a controlled facility;
   5. de-commission, dispose of or abandon a controlled facility;
   unless:
   1. the person is authorised to do so by a facility licence; or
   2. the person is exempted in relation to the conduct concerned by regulations made for the purposes of this section.
2. The holder of a facility licence must comply with the conditions of the licence.
3. A person covered by a facility licence must comply with the conditions of the licence that are applicable to the person.

Possession etc. of controlled material or controlled apparatus

1. A controlled person must not deal with a controlled material or controlled apparatus unless:
   1. the dealing is authorised by a source licence; or
   2. the dealing is prescribed by the regulations as an exempt dealing for the purposes of this section.
2. The holder of a source licence must comply with the conditions of the licence.
3. A person covered by a source licence must comply with the conditions of the licence that are applicable to the person.

What are conducts and dealings requiring a licence?

The ARPANS Act 1998 applies to controlled persons who undertake any of the following activities:

1. ‘Conducts’ in relation to nuclear installations or prescribed radiation facilities.

In summary, nuclear installation includes:

• a nuclear reactor for research or production of nuclear materials for industrial or medical use,
• a plant for preparing or storing fuel for use in a nuclear reactor,
• a nuclear waste storage or disposal facility with an activity that is greater than the activity level prescribed by the ARPANS regulations or
• a facility for production of radioisotopes with an activity that is greater than the activity level prescribed by the ARPANS regulations.

A prescribed radiation facility is a facility that is prescribed in Regulation 6 of the ARPANS Regulations 1999 and include:

• certain particle accelerators and
• certain irradiators used in industry and research to deliver very high doses of ionising radiation to material.

Conducts, in relation to nuclear facilities and prescribed radiation facilities, refers to activities that may be authorised under a facility licence.

• preparing a site for a controlled facility;
• constructing a controlled facility;
• having possession or control of a controlled facility;
• operating a controlled facility; and
• de-commissioning, disposing or abandoning a controlled facility

2. ‘Dealings’ with controlled material or controlled apparatus.

“Controlled materials” and “controlled apparatus” are defined in section 13 of the Act.

Controlled material means any natural or artificial material, whether in solid or liquid form, or in the form of a gas or vapour, which emits ionizing radiation spontaneously.

Controlled apparatus means apparatus that:

• produces, or could produce, ionizing radiation when energised,
• apparatus that produces ionizing radiation because it contains radioactive material and
• apparatus producing harmful non-ionizing radiation (NIR) when energised and prescribed by the Regulations (that is, apparatus that produces NIR that could expose people to amounts in excess of certain exposure limits).

To deal with is also defined in the legislation in relation to controlled apparatus or controlled material as any of the following:

• possess, or have control of, the apparatus or material;
• use or operate the apparatus or use the material;
• dispose of the apparatus or material.

If a dealing involves a controlled apparatus or controlled material that is part of, used in connection with, produced by, incorporated in, stored in, or disposed of is, a controlled facility for which a facility licence is in force, then the dealing is exempt (in Part 1 Schedule 2 to the Regulations) from also requiring a source licence.

It is important to note that you do not have to own the controlled apparatus or controlled material to require a licence. If in doubt you should contact ARPANSA.

How do I work out if a licence is required for my non-ionising apparatus?

In terms of controlled non-ionising apparatus that must be covered by a licence, Regulation 4 (2) of the ARPANS Regulations 1999 prescribes the following:

Apparatus is controlled apparatus if:

1. the apparatus is:
   1. a magnetic field non-destructive testing device; or
   2. an induction heater or induction furnace; or
   3. an industrial radiofrequency heater or welder; or
   4. a radiofrequency plasma tube; or
   5. microwave or radiofrequency diathermy equipment; or
   6. an industrial microwave or radiofrequency processing system; or
   7. an optical source, other than a laser product, emitting ultraviolet radiation, infrared or visible light; or
   8. a laser product with an accessible emission level greater than the accessible emission limit of a Class 3B (Restricted) laser product as defined by the accessible emission limit given in AS/NZS 2211.1:1997; or
   9. an optical fibre communication system exceeding Hazard Level 3A as defined by AS/NZS 2211.2:1997; and
2. it produces non-ionizing radiation that could lead to a person being exposed to radiation levels in excess of the exposure limits mentioned in Schedule 1; and
3. the excess levels of radiation mentioned in paragraph (b) are readily accessible to persons:
   1. in the course of intended operations or procedures of the apparatus; or
   2. under a reasonably foreseeable abnormal event involving the apparatus; or
   3. under a reasonably foreseeable single element failure of the apparatus; or
   4. without the use of tools or other specialised equipment required to remove protective barriers or access panels.

Need more guidance?

The Regulatory and Policy Branch has developed further guidance to assist in determining whether an ultra violet source may be a controlled apparatus and therefore subject to the requirement that dealings with it be authorised by a source licence.

Guidelines for determining whether a UV source is controlled apparatus under the ARPANS Legislation (PDF 199kb)

This document should be used as an aid in interpreting the Regulations. It is valid for both pulsed and continuous sources of ultraviolet radiation where the exposure duration is not less than 0.1 ms. It does not apply to ultraviolet lasers.

Exemptions

The ARPANS Act 1998 and Regulations 1999 refer to both "threshold" exemptions and those that would normally require a licence but may be subsequently declared exempt by the CEO of ARPANSA.

Examples of some of the exemptions under the legislation include:

• Certain low level sources;

  Schedule 2 of the Regulations indicates activity levels of sources below which the materials are not controlled materials for the purposes of the Act and are therefore exempt from the requirements of the Act. These activity levels are based on the IAEA Basic Safety Standards.

• Certain facilities

  Regulation 37 provides that the CEO may declare in writing that conduct of a licensee relating to a controlled facility is not, or will not be, an unacceptable potential hazard to the health and safety of people, or to the environment.

  The CEO then publishes in the Gazette firstly a notice of intent to declare the conduct exempt followed by the declaration itself and from the time that the declaration is gazetted the person is exempt from requiring a licence in respect of the conduct for which a declaration was issued.

  As an example, this declaration could be used to exempt controlled persons from the requirement for the siting of a controlled facility, where the CEO is satisfied that no unacceptable hazards would arise outside the facility from any other conducts at the facility.

  Please refer to Regulation 4, Regulation 6, Regulation 37 and Regulation 38 for further information regarding exemption levels. Please also refer to Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Regulations for other exempt dealings.

How to seek an exemption from a source licence – (ionising radiation only)

Regulation 38(5) provides that the CEO can, on a case-by-case basis, make a declaration exempting a particular dealing from requiring a source licence on the basis that certain statutory tests have been met.

REGULATORY GUIDE: How to seek an exemption from a source licence - Ionising Radiation (PDF 87kb)

The CEO invites feedback on the usefulness of this document. Comments maybe made via email to licenceadmin@arpansa.gov.au or mail to :

Director, Regulatory and Policy Branch
ARPANSA
P.O. Box 655
Miranda NSW 1490
Phone: 61 2 9541 8331
Fax: 61 2 9541 8348
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