IAEA Workshop on the Safe Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material

25 September 2019

IAEA Safety Standards- General Safety Guide on Occupational Radiation Protection (GSG-7) & its coverage for NORM

H. Burçin Okyar

Occupational Radiation Protection Unit

Radiation Safety & Monitoring Section, NSRW IAEA Workshop on the Safe Management of NORM

25 September 2019

IAEA Twitter

To start….

Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)- crosscutting activityof the IAEA

NSRW’s safety perspective (Safety Standards) covers all aspects ofsafe management of NORM

Narrow focus on worker protection, residue management,environmental protection, waste management, decommissioning,transport, etc. through different Sections under the same umbrella(unified voice)

This talk/ session is limited with worker protection

IAEA - since 1957

171 Member States (as of February 2019)

2,500+staff

from

over 100countries

• HQ in Vienna• Laboratories in Seibersdorf,

Monaco & Vienna

• Regional offices in Toronto &

Tokyo

• Liaison offices in New York &

Geneva

As an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system

IAEA has become the global center for cooperation in the nuclear field, radiationprotection inclusive.

Main areas of work

Safeguards and Verification

Safety and SecurityScience and Technology

To help countries use nuclear and isotopic techniques to promote

sustainable development objectives in agriculture, human health, water resource management, marine

environment & industrial applications

To provide a strong, sustainable and visible global nuclear safety and

security framework, protecting people and the environment from the harmful

effects of ionizing radiation

To fulfil the duties and responsibilities of the IAEA as

the world’s nuclear inspectorate, performing an indispensable role in global efforts to stop the spread of

nuclear weapons

Department of Nuclear Safety and Security

• The protection of people, society and the environment from the harmful effects ofionizing radiation through Safety Standards is at the heart of the Department forNuclear Safety and Security’s work

Sub-programmes • Advisory Services• Capacity Building• Education and Training• Networks• Peer Reviews• Publications• Special Projects

• Radiation Safety & Monitoring Section• Regulatory Infrastructure and Transport Safety Section• Waste and Environmental Safety Section

• These activities cover broadindustrial sectors with diversifiedcharacteristics

• Many of which have not beenregulated in the past in term ofradiation safety

• Deciding which materials to regulateand how they should be regulated isa challenge for regulatory bodies,and operators

• No single approach is appropriate forall industrial processes –a challenge in deriving a uniformapproach

NORM: What is the issue?

• Member States request to strengthentheir capabilities for the realisticassessment of radiological impactsof NORM

• Uncertainties in worker and publicdose assessment and conservativemodelling and prediction of exposurescenarios far from real situations

• Explaining the IAEA standards as theyapply to NORM to such a broad rangeof interested parties is a challenge

NORM: What is the issue?

NORM: What does the international guidance say?

Focus on worker protection – Methodologies for realistic assessment of worker doses suffer from non-standardised

approaches– Worker doses < 1 mSv in most workplaces of industrial operations involving NORM

with few exceptions of U/Th mining and processing, rare earths extraction etc.– Potential for higher exposures if adequate control measures are not implemented.

However, there is complex approach needed – Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) regulations (dust control), Environmental

Protection Regulations (licences)– General approach to build RP regime over the OHS requirements– Holistic approach along with other workplace hazards

application of the requirements “shall becommensurate with characteristics of thepractice or source and with the magnitude andlikelihood of exposures.”

Particularly it is relevant for NORM industries

– the exposures are generally (but not always) moderatewith little or no likelihood of extreme radiologicalconsequences

– General acceptance of the 1 Bq/g criterion

– Need for an evidence based approach for regulatorydecisions

Graded approach = One of the key principles in the GSR Part 3

NORM: What does the international guidance say?

Work environment

Safety Fundamentals(Principles)

Safety Requirements –GSR and SSR

Safety Guides –GSG and SSG

Safety Reports

TECDOCs

Safety Standards

Supporting publications

Hierarchy of the Safety Standards

Information on the IAEA’s safety standard programme:http://www-ns.iaea.org/standards/

SSG-60

Occupational Exposure

• All exposure of workers incurred in the course of their work

– Workers are exposed to ionizing radiation in a wide range ofoccupational settings (artificial& natural)

• Over 23 million monitored workers worldwide (57% - 13 million,exposure natural sources of radiation workers; 43% - 10 million, man-made source; 860,000-nuclear industry, 870,000 -industry, 3.5 million -medical), numbers continue to increase

• Area with multiple actors (global / national level)

– Requirements for protection of workers (IAEA - ILO)

– Ministries, Regulators, OHS, etc.

• Safety Standards - To protect occupationally exposed workers againstthe risks associatedwith ionizing radiations - Overall objective

• Recent Standards (GSR Part 3 & GSG-7)

• An integrated and consistent set of Safety Requirements that establishes therequirements that must be met to ensure the protection of people and the environment,both now and in the future.

• GSR Part 3 (BSS) follows ICRP 103 recommendations• Protection and Safety requirements of the BSS apply to all facilities and

activities• Planned, emergency and existing exposure situations• Occupational, public and medical exposure categories• 52 overarching requirements – for governments, regulatory bodies,

industry, health and safety professionals, workers, public and serviceproviders such as technical support organizations

• 12 requirements for ORP; Control, monitoring and recording• Regulators, TSPs (authorization or approval of service providers for

individual monitoring and calibration services) & Operators

International Basic Safety Standards

Graded approach to regulation

One of the key principles in the GSR Part 3 (Req 6)application of the requirements “shall be commensurate with characteristics of thepractice or source and with the magnitude and likelihood of exposures.”• Not limited with regulation

Particularly relevant for industries involving NORM• Economic importance of industries• Doses are generally (but not always) moderate (exposure pathways; Gamma

exposure – external, Radon/thoron and progeny nuclides – Inhalation, Long-livedalpha emitters – Inhalation, Ingestion and Skin contamination)

• Potentially high cost of regulation in relation to reduction in exposure (exposure levels are already low)

• The graded approach optimizes the use of regulatory and operator resources• Regulation (and strategy) required when above certain levels

RecordMonitorControl

GSR Part 3 Requirements on natural sources

TREATED AS Planned exposure situations• Mining and processing of raw materials that involve

exposure due to radioactive material

• Mineral extraction, mineral processing facilities

• Natural sources

– Material containing natural radionuclides abovespecified level

– (U/Th decay chains > 1 Bq/g; K-40 > 10 Bq/g)

– Rn-222 and Rn-220 & their progeny

• in workplace where radon levels abovereference level

• occupational exposure due to otherradionuclides in the uranium or thorium decaychain is controlled as planned exposuresituation

Existing exposure situations –reference levelsGeneral reference levels (applicable toboth natural and artificial sources):

– Normally in the range 1–20 mSv/a

– Radon:

• Expressed in terms of radonactivity concentration in air

• ≤1000 Bq/m3 in workplaces

Safety Guide on ORP

• Implementation of the Requirements on ORP in GSR Part 3

• Updates of previous safety guides in the field of ORP(Occupational Radiation Protection in the Mining andProcessing of Raw Materials, RSG 1.6)

• It is applicable to all areas concerning occupational exposure,including medicine, nuclear fuel cycle, industries involvingNORM, radiation application industries and scientific as well aseducational facilities.

• Provides information on ORP framework, exposures of workersin different exposure situations, protection of workers inspecial cases, dose assessment, management system forservice providers. Occupational exposure control measures aswell as health surveillance are also included.

Safety Guide on ORP• Planned exposure situations: Exposure of workers due to natural sources

– Applicability of requirements

– Graded approach

– Prior radiological evaluation

– Control of exposure of workers

– Awareness and training of workers

• Existing exposure situations

– Protection strategies

– Justification

– Optimization

– Exposure arising from remedial actions in areas with contamination

by residual radioactive material

– Exposure due to radon

• Monitoring of exposure

– Assessment of internal exposure

• Workers health surveillance

Radiation Protection Programme

What is the objective?

To fulfil the management’s responsibility for protection and safety

Effective radiation protection is a combination of o good design,o high quality construction, ando proper operation

• Systematic arrangements which are aimed at providing adequate consideration ofradiation protection measures.

• Radiation Protection Organisation (manager and personnel)

• Radiation dose and medical surveillance of exposed workers (radiation workcategories & surveillance)

• Area and zoning based on radiation exposure conditions

• Radiation work permit

• Radiation protection training

• Radiation protection procedures

• Control

Radiation Protection Programme

Radiation Protection Programme

• Adoption of management structures, policies, procedures andorganizational arrangements that are commensurate with the natureand extent of the risks

• Relates to all phases of a practice or to the lifetime of a facility/ industrialoperation (i.e. from design through commissioning and operation orprocess control to decommissioning)

• Only one element in ensuring the overall health and safety of workers(established and managed in close cooperation with those responsible forother areas of health and safety such as industrial hygiene, industrial safetyand fire safety)

• To minimize the need to rely on administrative controls andpersonal protective equipment

Prior radiological evaluation and safety assessment

• The first step towards the definition of a RPP(situation involving occupational exposures)

• Graded approach

• Level of effort

• Formality and detail of the evaluation

• Links to the magnitude of the exposures innormal operation, and to the magnitude andprobability of potential exposures

NORM training package1: Introduction2: Radioactivity and Ionising Radiation3: Occupation Radiation Protection – Principles/Concepts/GSR Part 3 requirements4: NORM in industries and regulatory considerations5: Radiation Measurements 6: Radioanalytical (Radiological) Characterisation

Case Studies, e.g. Oil and gas7: Radiation Protection Programme8: NORM residues/wastes – part 19: NORM Residues/wastes – part 210: Building Materials11. Environmental Monitoring12: Radon13: Decommissioning and Closure of NORM Facilities14: Legacy sites15: Transport

• Finalized in March 2017 (supported by TC Dep) and used as the main material for TCactivities (national & Regional) (Indonesia, Pakistan, Mongolia, UAE, Jordan), available atOPRNET

• In the process to convert into e-learning material (supported by TC)

• NORM worker protection (Video):https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/multimedia/videos/how-can-workers-be-protected-from-natural-radiation

• Radiation Underground- How to measure & control(Photo essay):

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/multimedia/photoessays/radiation-underground-measuring-and-controlling-miners-exposure

IAEA ORPNET: https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/orpnet/home/SitePages/Home.aspx

Thank you!

Previous Agency work on NORM symposiums

(2013)

(2013)

(2010)

(2015)

(2011)

The NORM VIII symposia – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 18-21 Oct 2016.

The Agency also develops many topical reports on aspects of NORM Management

(2018)