Code of Practice for Sealed Radioactive Material: Draft for consultation

Overview

This document sets out possible wording for a new code of practice to be issued under the Radiation Safety Act 2016 for the use of sealed radioactive material for non-medical purposes. Section 86(2) of the Act requires that anyone likely to be affected by the code is consulted before it is issued. The purpose of this document is to provide suggestions to assist in that consultation process.

The Introduction to the Code, Key roles, Definitions, training and sources/devices sections set out the proposed wording for the new code. The online survey contains specific questions that submitters may wish to answer. These questions are included for convenience only and submitters should feel free to provide any information they feel is relevant to the development of the code.

Why your views matter

In January 2017, ORS conducted a public consultation on a draft Code of Practice for Non-medical Uses of Ionising Radiation. The target audience for this consultation included all facilities using radiation or radioactive material for industrial, veterinary, agricultural, legal or security purposes. It also included facilities that use radiation or radioactive material for education, training or research, mining and procession of raw materials. The intention was to publish a single code for all non-medical activity categories supported by more detailed individual compliance guides, however, most of the audience preferred to have an individual code specific to each type of non-medical ration use. Based on this feedback, ORS has drafted a separate code of practice for sealed radioactive material for non-medical uses. During the drafting process, more detailed operational requirements were developed for training and sources/devices. ORS would like invite feedback from the affected sectors on these requirements.

What happens next

The Office of Radiation Safety will analyse the feedback and update each participant of this consultation on the outcome of the analysis before publishing this code of practice.

We are aiming to publish the final code of practice for non-medical irradiators for implementation by the end of 2019.