2.1.3 Safety requirements

The IAEA started issuing recommendations on radiation protection soon after its creation in 1957. The recommendations have been regularly revised and updated to reflect changes in philosophy, knowledge and data. Usually the revisions have been prompted by the issue of new recommendations by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). In 2012 a revised version of the International Basic Safety Standards for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (the BSS) was issued (IAEA, 2012a). This revision of the 1996 edition of the BSS (IAEA, 1996) was prompted by the issue of the 2007 recommendations of the ICRP (ICRP, 2007) as well as the IAEA’s own Fundamental Safety Principles (IAEA, 2006a).

The revised BSS show a significant shift in emphasis compared to previous versions to accommodate more explicitly the key safety principles established in the Fundamental Safety Principles, for example, the need to establish an appropriate national legal and regulatory framework, to establish the responsibilities for safety, the need for safety assessment of planned practices and the effective incorporation of safety within management systems of organizations.

Greater emphasis is given to the need for security, particularly of radiation sources that could be targets for malevolent actions, and for safety culture by promoting individual and collective commitment to protection and safety at all levels of organizations.

Emphasis is placed on applying a graded approach to safety in which the stringency of application of the requirements is commensurate with the magnitude and likelihood of the exposures. For example, in the case of planned exposure situations, practices may be exempted, notified, registered or licensed depending on the level of risk associated with the practice.

An extract of the requirements of the BSS governing planned exposure situations and emergency exposure situations is contained in the Appendix to this chapter.

2.1.4 Safety guidance

Guidance on how to implement the requirements of the previous BSS (IAEA, 1996) is published by the IAEA in its Safety Guides (IAEA, 2011b). These Safety

Guides, which cover all the important areas of the BSS, are currently being revised and updated to bring them in line with the new BSS (IAEA, 2012a).