Country Report: Australia Keith Baldry Director Radiation Protection South Australian Environment Protection Authority RAS/9/042 IAEA/RCA Regional Meeting to Establish a Regional ALARA Network Steering Committee 3 – 5 December 2007 Deajeon, Republic of Korea

Keith Baldry 18 years in radiation safety Current work: Uranium mining Radioactive sources Medical imaging and radiotherapy Radioactive waste Policy Previous experience: Nuclear fuel handling and reprocessing Reactor decommissioning Plutonium and uranium fuel manufacture Site remediation BSc (Hons) Physics, Manchester UK Director Radiation Protection, EPA South Australia Chair, national Radiation Regulators Forum Contact details PO Box 721 Kent Town, SA 5071 Australia +61 8 8130 0701 www.epa.sa.gov.au/radiation keith.baldry@epa.sa.gov.au

Nine jurisdictions in Australia Mature legislation in Australia Based on ICRP 60 ALARA regulated at a State level – therefore 9 Authorities reporting to 9 Ministers in different governments in Health and Environment portfolios

9 Radiation Protection Acts Legislation ICRP 60 IAEA BSS ALARA principle National Directory National Standard 9 Authorities 9 Radiation Protection Acts Regulations 9 separate Regulators. All compliant with IAEA GS-R-1 regulatory requirements, but no single higher authority In South Australia we have over 3000 licence holders Every uranium mine, radioactive source, X-ray machine is licensed All users are licensed Licences ALARA requirement Codes of Practice

Codes and Standards www.arpansa.gov.au RPS 1 National Standard (2002) RPS 2 Transport (2001) RPS 3 Radio Frequency Fields (2002) RPS 4 Discharge of Patients (2002) RPS 5 Portable Density/Moisture Gauges (2004) RPS 6 NATIONAL DIRECTORY FOR RADIATION PROTECTION (2004) RPS 7 Intervention in Emergency Situations (2004) RPS 8 Exposure of Humans for Research Purposes (2005) RPS 9 Mining and Mineral Processing (2005) RPS 10 Dentistry (2005) RPS 11 Security of Sources (2007) RPS 12 Occupational Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation (2006) RPS 13 Fixed Radiation Gauges (2007) National Directory for Radiation Protection – contains principles of radiation protection National Codes and Standards – Generally place obligations on licence holders to implement ALARA

Codes and Standards – Draft www.arpansa.gov.au Medical Uses of Radiation Radiology Radiotherapy Nuclear Medicine Veterinary Lasers in the Entertainment Industry X-ray Analysis Equipment Limiting Exposure to Extremely Low Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields ( 0 Hz – 3 kHz) Pre-disposal Management of Radioactive Waste. Radioactive Waste Management Facilities Cabinet X-ray Equipment Decontamination after a Radiological Incident Optimisation of Radiation Exposure

Coordination National Directory for Radiation Protection Radiation Health Committee Radiation Regulators Forum National Directory for Radiation Protection – contains principles of radiation protection - Each jurisdiction has agreed to be bound by the NDRP Radiation Health Committee – Expert advisory committee to develop Codes and Standards Radiation Regulators Forum – All 9 regulators meet to agree on nationally uniform approaches

ALARA in the work place Constraints used during design and construction Radiation Safety Officers Regulators encouraging good practice Regulatory licensing, inspection and enforcement Optimisation Working Group – Radiation Health Committee – to implement the 2007 ICRP Recommendations Key Performance Indicators require measurement of effect, enable prioritisation and direct resources to where they have most effect

Training Competency criteria Licences to use radiation Investigating National Qualifications and Accreditation Competency criteria in National Directory for Radiation Protection – regulators assess and approve courses

ALARA initiatives Optimisation Working Group Industry initiatives Outcome based regulation with Key Performance Indicators Australian Radiation Incidents Register Optimisation Working Group – Radiation Health Committee – to implement the 2007 ICRP Recommendations Key Performance Indicators require measurement of effect, enable prioritisation and direct resources to where they have most effect

Australian Radiation Incidents Register Highlight hazards to regulators and users Sharing advice on incidents and accidents Feedback and guidance to users Data to analyse trends

Australia’s uranium Ranger Olympic Dam Beverley 40% of the world’s low recovery cost resource Major expansion Likely to have 4 more mines in the next few years Presents significant challenge to operators and regulators Radiation safety skills shortage has been identified as a key issue

Olympic Dam uranium mine Olympic Dam workforce = 2000 15 radiation safety staff 1 senior manager 3 operational radiation safety officers 2 graduates 9 technical Equivalent of about 0.5 regulator Expansion to become the world’s biggest uranium mine

Olympic Dam uranium mine

HIFAR: Closed 30 Jan 2007 The Safety and Radiation Science division has a staff of about 80, 30 of whom are health physics staff. Each of ANSTO’s business areas is assigned a Radiation Protection Adviser and health physics technicians provide operational health physics services from health physics offices located around the site and at the National Medical Cyclotron. The division also has a strong group of occupational hygienists and safety and reliability engineers. The Radiation Standards group holds the national standards for activity measurement and operates a Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL).

OPAL: Opened 20 April 2007 The Safety and Radiation Science division has a staff of about 80, 30 of whom are health physics staff. Each of ANSTO’s business areas is assigned a Radiation Protection Adviser and health physics technicians provide operational health physics services from health physics offices located around the site and at the National Medical Cyclotron. The division also has a strong group of occupational hygienists and safety and reliability engineers. The Radiation Standards group holds the national standards for activity measurement and operates a Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL).

Expectations (hopes) from ARAN Opportunities for wider experience and skills Spreading best practice International trade issues Equipment design and manufacture Uranium and source shipment Qualifications and accreditation Influence within IAEA to highlight regional issues Making it relevant at the local level Spreading best practice = continuous improvement: ‘moving from good to great’ as an old boss of mine used to say. Qualifications and accreditation for radiation Qualified Experts Must be used by the ‘little guys’ not just the BHP Billitons and Anstos

Web site Goal: primary ALARA resource Useful at the local level Interactive Forum to allow discussion ‘Wiki’ style to allow direct contribution Structured by topic, and searchable

Thank you