6IAEA DOCUMENTS ON OCCUPATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION IN EMERGENCY
6.1Background
TheStatute of the IAEAwas approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was held at the Headquarters of the United Nations. It came into force on 29 July 1957.Under the terms of Article III of its Statute, the IAEA is authorized to establish or adoptstandards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property,and to provide for the application of these standards.
The publications by means of which the IAEA establishes standards are issued in the IAEASafety Standards Series. This series covers nuclear safety, radiation safety, transport safetyand waste safety, and also general safety (i.e. all these areas of safety). The publicationcategories in the series are Safety Fundamentals, Safety Requirements and Safety Guides.
Safety standards are coded according to their coverage: nuclear safety (NS), radiation safety(RS), transport safety (TS), waste safety (WS) and general safety (GS).
Information on the IAEA’s safety standards programme is available at the IAEA Internet site
The site provides the texts in English of published and draft safety standards. The texts ofsafety standards issued in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, the IAEA SafetyGlossary and a status report for safety standards under development are also available. The IAEA provides for the application of the standards and, under the terms of Articles IIIand VIII.C of its Statute, makes available and fosters the exchange of information relating topeaceful nuclear activities and serves as an intermediary among its Member States for thispurpose.
Reports on safety and protection in nuclear activities are issued in other publications series, inparticular the Safety Reports Series. Safety Reports provide practical examples and detailedmethods that can be used in support of the safety standards. Other IAEA series of safetyrelated publications are the Provision for the Application of Safety Standards Series, and the Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC)Group’sEmergency Preparedness and Response(EPR) Series. The IAEA also issues reports on radiological accidents and other specialpublications.Safety related publications are also issued in the TechnicalReports Series, the IAEATECDOCSeries, the Training Course Series, and the IAEA Services Series, and asPractical Radiation Safety Manuals and Practical Radiation Technical Manuals.
6.2History of Safety Documents
In 1958, the IAEA published its firstSafety Standard, Safety Series No. 1; Safe Handling of Radioisotopes. Over the years, some 200 publications were issued in the Safety Series.As historical milestones,Safety Series No.6; Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materialwas published in 1961, Safety Series No.9; Basic Safety Standards for Radiation Protectionin 1962 and Safety Series No.15;Radioactive WasteDisposal into theGroundin 1965.Bottom-up approach based on the collection of the experience in safety practices and guides was adopted until 2006.After 50 years of essentially bottom-up approach, the Safety Fundamentals SF-1 marks the beginning of a top-down approach leading to a complete and consistent Series
6.3 Safety Standards
The status of the IAEA safety standards derives from the IAEA’sStatute, which authorizes the IAEA toestablish or adopt, inconsultation and, where appropriate, in collaboration with the competent organs of theUnited Nations and with the specialized agencies concerned, standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property, and to provide for their application.With a view to ensuring the protection of people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation, the IAEA safety standards establish fundamental safety principles, requirements and measures to control the radiation exposure of people and the release of radioactive material to the environment, to restrict the likelihood of events that might lead to a loss of control over a nuclear reactor core, nuclear chain reaction, radioactive source or any other source of radiation, and to mitigate the consequences of such events if they were to occur. The standards apply to facilities and activities that give rise to radiation risks, including nuclear installations, the use of radiation and radioactive sources, the transport of radioactive material and the management of radioactive waste.
Safety measures and security measureshave in common the aim of protecting human life and health and the environment. Safety measures and security measures must be designed and implemented in an integrated manner so that security measures do not compromise safety and safety measures do not compromise security.The findings of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the recommendations of international expert bodies, notably the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), are taken into account in developing the IAEA safety standards. Some safety standards are developed in cooperation with other bodies in the United Nations system or other specialized agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
6.3.1 Hierarchy of documents
The IAEA safety standards reflect an international consensus on what constitutes a high level of safety for protecting people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation. They are issued in the IAEA Safety Standards Series, which has three categories.
6.4 Safety Fundamentals
As the primary publication in the Safety Standards Series, the IAEA publication SF-1; Fundamental Safety Principlesestablishes the fundamental safety objective and tenprinciples of protection and safety as follows.
- Responsibility for safety
- Role of government
- Leadership and management for safety
- Justification of facilities and activities
- Optimization of protection
- Limitation of risks to individuals
- Protection of present and future generations
- Prevention of accidents
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Protective actions to reduce existing or unregulated radiation risks
6.5 Safety Requirements
An integrated and consistent set of Safety Requirements establishes the requirements that must be met to ensure the protection of people and the environment, both now and in the future. The requirements are governed by the objective and principles of the Safety Fundamentals. If the requirements are not met, measures must be taken to reach or restore the required level of safety. The format and style of the requirements facilitate their use for the establishment, in a harmonized manner, of a national regulatory framework. Requirements, including numbered‘overarching’ requirements, are expressed as ‘shall’ statements. Many requirements are not addressed to a specific party, the implication being that the appropriate parties are responsible for fulfilling them.
Among documents included in the Safety Requirements, occupational radiation protection and emergency preparedness and response are contained in General Safety Requirements(GSR)Part3; Radiation Protection and the Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards and GSR Part7; Preparedness and Response for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency. Here, GSRPart3 is so-calledBSS and the most important requirements for radiation protection. The description on emergency workers is shown in Requirement 45; Arrangement for controlling the exposure of emergency workers. Furthermore, guidance values for restricting exposure of emergency workersset out in ScheduleIV, Table IV-2.These values apply only for the dose from exposure to external penetrating radiation. Doses from exposure to non-penetrating external radiation and from intake or skin contamination need to be prevented by all possible means.
The revised IAEA Safety Requirements publicationGS-R-2, the requirements for anadequate level of preparedness and response for a nuclear or radiological emergencyin any Statewill be published as GSR Part 7.
6.6 Safety Guides
Safety Guides provide recommendations and guidance on how to comply with the Safety Requirements.Recommendations in the Safety Guides are expressed as ‘should’ statements. It isrecommended to take the measures stated or equivalent alternative measures. The SafetyGuides present international good practices and increasingly they reflect best practices to helpusers striving to achieve high levels of safety. Each Safety Requirementspublication issupplemented by a number of Safety Guides, which can be used in developing nationalregulatory guides.
A new Safety Guide; Occupational Radiation Protectionwill be published as a combination of five existing Safety Guides such as
RS-G-1.1; Occupational Radiation Protection,
RS-G-1.2; Assessment of Occupational Exposure Due to Intakes of Radionuclides,
RS-G-1.3; Assessment of Occupational Exposure Due to External Sources of Radiation,
RS-G-1.6; Occupational Radiation Protection in the Mining and Processing of Raw Materials,
RS-G-3.2; The Management System for Technical Services in Radiation Safety.
For a nuclear or radiological emergency, GSG-2; Criteria for Use inPreparedness andResponse for aNuclear orRadiological Emergency defines OILs and EALs. In GS-G-2.1; Arrangement for Preparedness for a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency Thread Category is described.
6.7Safety Reports
The following Safety Reports are useful for occupational radiation protection.
No.16; Calibration of Radiation Protection Monitoring Instruments
No.20; Training in Radiation Protection and the Safe Use of Radiation Sources
No.21; Optimization of Radiation Protection in the Control of Occupational Exposure
No.37; Methods for AssessingOccupational RadiationDoses Due to Intakes of Radionuclides
6.8IAEA TECDOC
From the view point of accident and emergency the following documents are recommendedas protective action,
IAEA-TECDOC-955;Generic assessment procedures for determining protective actions during a reactor accident,
as monitoring,
IAEA-TECDOC-1092;Generic procedures for monitoring in a nuclearor radiological emergency,
as assessment,
IAEA-TECDOC-1162;Generic procedures for assessment and responseduring a radiological emergency,
as medical follow-up,
IAEA-TECDOC-1300;Follow-up of delayed health consequences of acute accidental radiation exposure,
as extended framework,
IAEA-TECDOC-1432; Development of an extended framework for emergency response criteria.
6.9Practical Radiation Technical Manuals
Practical Radiation Technical Manuals written about concrete use are indispensable to practical training such as
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT,
INDIVIDUAL MONITORING, WORKPLACE MONITORING,
HEALTH EFFECTS AND MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE.
6.10EPRs
Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) publications are specially focused on radiation emergency. For bio-dosimetry on high external exposure, Cytogenetic Dosimetry: Applications in Preparedness for and Response to Radiation Emergencies will be useful. Lessons Learnt from Response to Radiation Emergencies can provide a review of the lessons from the response to a number of radiation emergencies with the purpose of consolidating the lessons. The manual which provides generic response procedures for medical personnel responding to different types of radiation emergencies isGeneric procedures for medical response duringa nuclear or radiological emergency.
The objective of Manual for FirstResponders to aRadiological Emergencyis to provide practical guidance for those responding within the first few hours of a radiological emergency. This includes the emergency service personnel who would initially respond at the local level and the national officials who would support this early response.