Delineation and access to regulated areas
European requirements for radiological protection, especially work on transposing the new EURATOM Directive on the basic radiological protection standards, are currently being revised. The Direction générale du travail (DGT – General Directorate of Labour) and the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN – Nuclear Safety Authority) therefore commissioned the Radiological Protection Standing Groups of experts (GPRAD and GPMED) to engage in a forward-looking debate on the delimitation of and access to regulated areas, within an ad hoc working group (called hereafter ‘Classification of Area WG’).
To fuel its debates, the ‘Classification of Area WG’ sought elements on international regulations and practices focusing on problem exposure situations in various areas of activity (nuclear, industrial, research, medical, transport and natural boosted). CEPN was entrusted with this study.
Radiation protection of aircraft crew
Between December 2010 and January 2012, EAN performed a survey about radiation protection of aircraft crew. The following questions were sent to the members of the network.
- What are the main requirements?
- What are the means and tools used to assess aircrew’s exposure?
- Is there a specific dose criteria defined for aircraft crew?
3. Could you provide data on the number of aircrew exposed, maximum annual level of exposure, average annual level of exposure, etc.?
14 countries answered the request about radiation protection of aircraft crew: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. There is not a regulation concerning radiation protection requirements for aircraft crew in Norway.
Download the results of the survey: 
Aircraft crew
Dose constraints
ERPAN (European Radiation Protection Authorities Network) carried out a survey in April 2010 on how dose constraints, as defined in the EU Directive are applied in the non-nuclear energy sector across Europe. The following questions were sent to the participants to the network. Does your country use dose constraints in the context of occupational exposures […]
Radon exposure management
Between September 2009 and January 2010, EAN performed a survey on the national management of radon exposure. The 5 following questions were sent to the participants to the network.
- Is there a specific radon policy in your country?
- If so, when was it implemented?
- Have action levels (ICRP 60) or reference levels (ICRP 103) been fixed? For workplaces? For domestic dwellings?
- How far is this policy implemented?
- We would also be interested in documentations related to this policy (even if it is not in English).
In total, answers from the 17 following countries were received: Armenia, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK.
Download the results of the survey (pdf)The Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) in Europe
Diagnostic Reference Levels are values which are usually easy to measure and have a direct link with patient doses. They are therefore established to aid efficient dose management and to optimize patient doses. If such doses are found to exceed the corresponding reference dose, possible causes should be investigated and corrective action taken accordingly, unless the unusually high doses could be clinically justified.
Potential exposures in nuclear installations
This survey was carried out from October 2006 to January 2007 via the
EAN
Forum. The aim was to determine if and how the operator of a nuclear
installations takes into acount, in the dose planning for a job, the
occupational radiological incidents and mishaps. The questionnaire
contained the following
questions:
- If this is taken into account, does a specific methodology exist?
- Have
you examples of scenario (biological shielding defaults, ventilation
defaults, unplanned dose rate, fire, etc.), which have been used for
these kinds of prevision? - Is that planning required by the authority?
- Is there a dose criteria, above which an incident has to be reported to the authority?
Answers from 6 different countries have been received.
The management of radioactively contaminated soils
This survey was carried out from
September to November 2006 via the EAN Forum. The aim was to establish
the state of the regulations concerning the management of radioactively
contaminated soils due to activities related to facilities from the
nuclear fuel cycle (i.e. nuclear power plant, research reactors, fuel
cycle facilities, excluding uranium mines and mining sites). The
questionnaire contained the following questions:
- What is the regulatory framework within your country regarding the management of radioactively contaminated soils?
- Are
there any release criteria (in terms of individual or collective dose,
Bq/g…) for unrestricted and/or restricted use of such a site? - What are these criteria and how are they used?
- Do you have any example of such a contaminated site which was finally released from regulatory control after remediation?
The implementation of the European Directives 96/29 and 97/43
The European ALARA Network has
considered that it would be useful to make a specific survey in order
to evaluate the dissemination of the justification, limitation and
optimisation principles rhough Europe. A questionnaire was prepared by
the EAN Newsletter Editorial Board and sent to all EAN (18 countries)
and RECAN (22 countries) national contact persons.
Such
a survey was first undertaken in 2001 and its results were published in
the ALARA Newsletter issue N°9. However, at that time, it was mainly
limited to EAN member countries. Since then, the enlargement of the EU
has led to several new implementations of the European Directives 96/29
and 97/43 that are directly inspired by ICRP N°60 Recommandations
[1990]. In addition, some non-member states are using the IAEA Basic
Safety Standards for Radiation Protection [1996] that are also based on
the Recommendations made by ICRP in 1990.