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National Forum on Revision of the IAEA Basic Safety Standards

National Forum on Revision of the IAEA Basic Safety Standards

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Watsonia RSL
6 Morwell Avenue, Watsonia VIC 3087

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is revising its International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (DS 379) [the ‘BSS’], and has released BSS draft 3.0 for comment by Member States. A Secretariat made up of representatives of all co-sponsoring organisations and potentialcosponsoring organisations (EC, FAO, ILO, NEA/OECD, PAHO, UNEP, WHO, ICRP) have been closely involved in the revision process. Draft 3.0 was prepared within the IAEA's Safety Standards program and has already been reviewed by its Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC) in conjunction with the Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC), the Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSSC) and the Nuclear Safety Standards Committee (NUSSC). When completed, this edition will replace the 1996 Basic Safety Standards.

The objective of the BSS, as accepted by the Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), is to establish basic requirements for the protection of people and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation and for the safety of radiation sources.

The IAEA has asked Member States to provide comment particularly on:

  • Relevance and usefulness: are the stated objectives of the Standard appropriate, and are they met by the document?
  • Scope and completeness: is the stated scope appropriate, and is that scope adequately covered by the document?
  • Quality and clarity: do the requirements/guidance in the document represent the current consensus among specialists in the field, and are they expressed clearly and coherently?

The IAEA asked Member States to note that:

  • The structure of the IAEA Safety Standards Series and the format of safety standards have been reconsidered and revised to correspond to the Fundamental Safety Principles (Safety Fundamentals).
  • The BSS does not deal per se with nuclear security issues. However, the interface between safety and security is addressed throughout the document.
  • The BSS addresses radiation protection of the environment and requirements have been introduced in sections 2 and 3.
  • The tables of exemption and clearance values in Schedule 1 have not been fully updated but a note has been added to the text outlining the proposal for achieving this.
  • The ICRP is currently considering whether the limits for lens of the eye should be reduced. As soon as the ICRP advice is published, the IAEA will consider whether or not the respective values in Schedule III should be changed.
  • The requirements on controlling radon in both planned and existing exposure situations in sections 3 and 5 respectively have been updated, taking into account the most recent Statement of the ICRP published in November 2009.

Further information on the draft document is available from the IAEA website:

The IAEA has particularly requested that Member States provide coordinated comment. ARPANSA is responsible for preparing Australia’s response, and in this regard circulated the BSS draft to a wide range of potential stakeholders inviting comment by 21 May 2010.

To assist in consideration of stakeholder input into the Australian response, ARPANSA also sponsored a National Forum on Revision of the IAEA Basic Safety Standards, held in Melbourne on Wednesday 19 May 2010 at the Watsonsia RSL, 6 Morwell Avenue, Watsonia.

The Forum presented information on the content of the draft and identified particular issues that may require Australian comment. There was considerable opportunity for discussion and interaction with speakers, and for stakeholder comment to be discussed. A summary of the Forum and the Australian submission on the draft are now available.

Queries can be directed to the Standards Development and Committee Support Section at secretariat@arpansa.gov.au.

 

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