The following radiation protection requirements are relevant to most activities in

the planning, operation and decommissioning of nuclear fuel cycle facilities.

• Graded approach — The stringency of application of the requirements in planned exposure situations shall be commensurate with the characteristics of the practice or the source within a practice, and with the magnitude and likelihood of the exposures.

• Notification and authorization — Any person or organization intending to operate a facility or to conduct an activity shall submit to the regulatory body a notification or an application for authorization. (Notification alone is sufficient provided that the exposures expected to be associated with the practice are unlikely to exceed a small fraction, as specified by the regulatory body, of the relevant limits, and that the likelihood and magnitude of potential exposures and any other potential detrimental consequences are negligible. Authorization can take the form of either registration or licensing. Typical practices that are suitable for registration are those for which: (a) safety can largely be ensured by the design of the facilities and equipment; (b) the operating procedures are simple to follow; (c) the safety training requirements are minimal; and (d) there is a history of few problems with safety in operations. Registration is best suited to those practices for which operations do not vary significantly.)

• Exemption and clearance — The government or the regulatory body shall determine which practices or sources within practices are to be exempted from some or all of the requirements of these Standards. The regulatory body shall approve which sources, including materials and objects, within notified practices or authorized practices can be cleared from regulatory control. (The BSS provides criteria for the exemption and clearance of practices and sources within practices from regulatory control.)

• Responsibility — Registrants and licensees shall be responsible for protection and safety in planned exposure situations.

• Justification of practices — The government or the regulatory body shall ensure that only justified practices are authorized.

• Optimization of protection and safety — The regulatory body shall establish and enforce requirements for the optimization of protection and safety, and registrants and licensees shall ensure that protection and safety are optimized. (The regulatory body is required to establish or approve constraints on dose and on risk, as appropriate, to be used in the optimization of protection and safety. The BSS does not prescribe such constraints (but see ICRP guidance in Section 2.2.4).)

• Dose limits — The government or the regulatory body shall establish and enforce dose limits for occupational exposure and public exposure, and registrants and licensees shall apply these limits. (The dose limits specified in the BSS are similar to those recommended by the ICRP (see Section 2.2.4).)

• Safety assessment — The regulatory body shall establish and enforce requirements for safety assessment, and the person or organization responsible for a facility or activity that gives rise to radiation risks shall conduct an appropriate safety assessment of this facility or activity.

• Monitoring for verification of compliance — Registrants, licensees and employers shall conduct monitoring to verify compliance with the requirements for protection and safety.

• Prevention and mitigation of accidents — Registrants and licensees shall apply good engineering practice and shall take all practicable measures to prevent accidents and to mitigate the consequences of those accidents that do occur.