[en] Exclusion from the regulatory system of sources of radiation unamendable to control, exemption from the regulatory system of sources the radiological impact of which is negligible, and clearance of sources which can on similar grounds be released from the regulatory system, are all very important concepts in radiological practice. However, ICRP has hitherto regarded these concepts as primarily to do what regulatory practice. As a consequence, the 'philosophical' advice of ICRP on these issues is really fairly limited. After explicitly mentioning exemption in Publication 13 (1970), and mentioning in passing a 'negligible' activity concentration for tritium in Publication 25 (1977), ICRP provided its first genuine guidance in Publication 46 (1985) on disposal of solid radioactive waste. There, individual doses below 0.01 mSv and collective doses below I man Sv were recorded as clearly suitable for exemption. For collective dose, the main argument was that the cost of assessing such small collective doses would outweigh any reduction in health detriment costs. The current 1990 recommendations of ICRP, Publication 60, point out that it is difficult to define a 'trivial' dose, largely because exemption is source-related but triviality of a dose is individual-related. In Publication 60, ICRP also discusses the popular notion that widespread but very small doses can be excluded from the calculation of collective dose. Such procedures tend to ignore large collective doses in connection with radioactive waste. Exemption criteria based on such procedures are often, but by no means always, similar to those obtained when small doses are taken into account. ICRP does not recommend such exclusion of small but widespread doses. (author)

[en] The concepts of exclusion, exemption and clearance have been established in international recommendations and, standards for radiation protection and the management of radioactive waste in recent years. The consistent application of these concepts has given rise to various problems in different spheres of use. This is particularly the case in the mining and minerals processing industries dealing with materials exhibiting elevated concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides. This paper takes the South African mining industry as an example and highlights some of the issues that have arisen in applying these concepts within a regulatory control regime. (author)

[en] The publication of new European Basic Safety Standards by the European Commission and of new International Basic Safety Standards by the IAEA together with other international agencies, has led to increased interest in the application of the concepts of exemption and clearance. This paper discusses the derivation of radionuclide-specific exemption and clearance values for application in various areas of the regulation of radioactive materials. (author)

[en] Collection of Lithuanian laws regulating environmental protection in Lithuania is presented. The main of them is the Law on environmental protection of the Republic of Lithuania. This law establish the main rights and duties of legal and natural persons guaranteeing the right of the population of the Republic of Lithuania to healthy and safe environment, harmonic development of the interaction between the society and nature. Among general principles of environment protection, regulation of economic activities and introduction of basis of taxation for environment pollution, the law defines the main requirements for the production and usage of radioactive materials, management of radioactive waste. According to the article 21 usage of radioactive materials for the production of nuclear weapons is prohibited. By the article 23 importation of radioactive waste into the Republic of Lithuania for storage, treatment and disposal is prohibited. Two governmental institutions - Environmental Protection Department and Ministry of Health are responsible for the preparation of regulations for the record-keeping, transportation, storage, disposal of radioactive materials as well as norms of radiation protection. The full text of the Law on taxes on the state natural resources, Law on taxes on environmental pollution are also included in this publication

[en] A number of regulations were completed with the aim to ensure safe storage and application of radionuclides in France, especially taking into account radiation protection. CIREA guarantees their unanimity by its judgement on the general questions arising from application of regulations. It has a regulatory role since it requires special conditions for particular practices. Authorisation for induction of radioactive sources or equipment containing sources, their application, storage, etc. are directly given by CIREA or after having obtained its premises

[en] Ghana was for four decades engaged in practices which involve the exposure of people to ionising radiation from man-made source without any national legislation to control them. In pursuance of the Ghana Atomic Energy Act 204 of 1963, as amended by the, Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Law 308 and the enactment of further regulation, Radiation protection instrument LI 1559 of 1993, the Radiation Protection Board (RPB) was established to regulate the introduction and conduct of any practice involving sources of ionizing radiation in the country. The RPB is thus the National Competent Authority for registration, licensing and inspection of practices in Ghana for the purpose of radiation protection and safety. It has an inventory of all radiation sources in existence in the country as well as a system of control for their safe use. (author)

[en] This IAEA Safety Report Series publication is the result of a review of a large selection of accidents in industrial radiography which Regulatory Authorities, professional associations and scientific journals have reported. The review's objective was to draw lessons from the initiating events of the accidents, contributing factors and the consequences. A small, representative selection of accident descriptions is used to illustrate the primary causes of radiography accidents and a set of recommendations to prevent recurrence of such accidents or to mitigate the consequences of those that do occur is provided. By far the most common primary cause of over-exposure was 'Failure to follow operational procedures' and specifically failure to perform radiation monitoring to locate the position of the source. The information in the Safety Report is intended for use by Regulatory Authorities, operating organizations, workers manufacturers and client organizations having responsibilities for radiation protection and safety in industrial radiography. (author)

[en] The detection of the unauthorized movement of radioactive materials is one of the most effective nonproliferation measures. Automatic special nuclear material (SNM) portal monitors are designed to detect this unauthorized movement and are an important part of the safeguard systems at US nuclear facilities. SNM portals differ from contamination monitors because they are designed to have high sensitivity for the low energy gamma-rays associated with highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium. These instruments are now being installed at international borders to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination an SNM. In this paper the parameters important to evaluating radiation portal monitors are discussed. (author)

[en] An equipment specially developed for the customs radiation control is described. Its sensitivity is higher than requirements of western countries. The equipment ensures an alarm when a radioactive source (both shielded or not) is found in the controlled area, localizes and identifies the source detected, and provides the radiation protection of customs personnel. Most of devices have a non-volatile memory where the radiation situation history is stored and then transferred to PC. The equipment may be used by personnel of special services for secret detection of radioactive materials. Some Belarussian and Russian documents specifying measures to prevent an unauthorized transportation of radioactive materials are discussed. (author)

[en] In order to prevent accidents caused by application of radiation sources the Tunisian O.N.P.C. established straightforward strategy made up of 3 phases: prevention, planning and intervention. Civil Protection conducts prevention studies of all radiation sources by examining normal application conditions as well as possible accidental situations. It keeps up with scientific, technical and statistical aspects of radiation risks, elaborates specific plans and programs for intervention operations and cooperates with administrative and security services as well as international organisations. The O.N.P.C. established a model intervention plan based on observation (according to preliminary information), evaluation of the situation (according to the head of operation) intervention (specialized units) and post intervention (testing of personnel)