minutes of the 63th 63executive council of irpa …a2506646-bbab-4bc2-b67a... · web...

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MINUTES OF THE 66TH EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF IRPA REF: IRPA EC67-01-EC66MINUTES-V2

MINUTES OF THE 66th EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF IRPA10th - 11th May, 2014

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Participants

Renate Czarwinski - PresidentRoger Coates - Vice-PresidentThiagan Pather – Vice-President for Congress AffairsBernard Le Guen – Executive OfficerRichard Toohey - TreasurerChristopher Clement – Publications DirectorAna Maria BombenEduardo GallegoAlfred HefnerRichard Vetter

Apologies for absence: Sigurður Magnùsson Jong Kyung Kim

OPENING

The President, Ms. Renate Czarwinski, opened the session at 9 am on Saturday, 10th May 2014. She welcomed the Vice President, Executive Officer and Members in attendance.

Adoption of the agenda (EC66-01) and minutes of the 65th EC meeting

The pre-established agenda of the EC66 meeting was officially adopted with minor changes, as well as the minutes of the 65th EC meeting.

Action status

A thorough review of actions related to the 2013 EC meeting in Ottawa was performed by the Executive Officer and updated accordingly.

Officers’ reports President’s report (Renate Czarwinski)

Among IRPA’s numerous involvements in international events since the EC meeting in Ottawa, the President made a welcome speech at the 45 th Annual meeting of the German-Swiss Radiation Protection Association in cooperation with the Austrian Radiation Protection Society in Essen/Germany in September 2013.

The President sent a letter accepting cooperation with the 20 th ICRM Conference in Vienna June 2015 and participated in activities of the Program Committee of the IRPA Regional Conference in Geneva (June 2014).

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Furthermore, the President participated in activities of the core group of IRPA14 in Johannesburg and Cape Town to establish the ICPC, ICOC, ICSC and made a presentation at the WHO/REMPAN Collaborating Centers Meeting in Würzburg/Germany in May 2014, on invitation of WHO, which received a warm welcome.

Also, the President contributed to the development of the program of the International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection (IAEA CN 223) where IRPA is a cooperating organization.

Preparation for the celebration of IRPA 50th Anniversary (2014-2016)

There was a discussion on possible details for the celebration, after which the President asked the EC members to consider possible details of awards (with the special awards to be taking place during the gala dinner).

Former IRPA Presidents and Executive Officers, as well as representatives of organizations, could be invited. Contribution to the celebration could include presentations of Associate Societies’ main achievements. In addition, it would be an honor to invite Rupprecht Maushart, one of IRPA founders.

Action 1 (to President):The President and Vice President to compile proposals for the IRPA 50th day at IRPA14 for comment by the EC members.

Vice-President’s report (Roger Coates)

The Vice President presented and commented on his activities of the past year, which are detailed below.

New Societies

The current status of membership was presented, including a quick country-by-country review of the table attached to the Vice President’s report. Societies which currently seem closest to IRPA application include Tunisia and Turkey. The following societies/countries in particular should be followed up during the Kuala Lumpur Congress: Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. [Note: there were few, if any, representatives from these countries at the Asian Congress, hence progress was not possible].Several connections had been attempted with African countries, which will need to be followed up at the African Regional Congress later this year.

Sievert Awards

Nominations closed on 9 May 2014 and an update was given by the Vice President. Three nominations have been received so far for the Sievert Award, from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Noting that there was evidence of difficulties in email communication, it was agreed that a reminder would be sent to all Associate Societies to get confirmation that this list is final.

Action 2 (to Vice President): The Vice President to draft a letter for Bernard Le Guen to send to AS to confirm that there are

only three nominations for the Sievert Award (by 20 May 2014) The Vice President to confirm that the three Sievert nominations received are compliant with the

rules, and begin the assessment process (by end June), so that the award can be confirmed at the next EC meeting in April 2015

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Report by the Vice-President for Congress Affairs

Thiagan Pather, Vice-President for Congress Affairs, made a detailed presentation on current developments in the preparation of IRPA14 in Cape Town.

The Congress will have a strong flavour for celebrating the 50 years of radiation protection under the IRPA banner and will endeavour to engage the younger generation including school children and young professionals. The celebration of the 50th anniversary of IRPA and the General Assembly will take place midway through the Congress on Wednesday.

The thematic areas will be broken down to address the following fields: Fundamental Science Philosophy and Principles Practice

Preparation for the Poster Session is progressing smoothly.

Taking the example of IRPA 13 in Glasgow, a discussion followed on the publication of presentations, under the title ‘Proceedings of 50th anniversary’. A comprehensive record will be made of all the Congress proceedings and published on the IRPA website.

The programme will include a series of refresher training courses to be presented in early morning sessions

There ensued a discussion on current fee system, with a suggestion to include the gala dinner in the fees.

Executive Officer’s Report

The document describing the operation of the Executive Officer was presented, including an update on the publication of IRPA guidelines on radiation protection culture, one copy being distributed to each EC member.

The Executive Officer presented the procedure on changing rules for electronic voting, which was unanimously approved.

Treasurer’s Financial Report

IRPA Treasurer Dick Toohey presented the Treasurer’s report. For the period since EC-65 (16 July 2013 to 30 April 2014) the operating account received $39,759 in dues payments, and disbursed $81,815 in costs. The balance of the operating account is $196,403.

Associate societies in arrears on dues for 2014 include Australia, Belgium, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Serbia & Montenegro, South Africa, UK, Uruguay, USA and Venezuela. The amount of dues in arrears is $47,258, and the Treasurer will send reminders to these Associate Societies.

Associate societies in arrears for two or more years (and so possible candidates for expulsion if not current in dues by IRPA-14) include China, Greece, India, Madagascar, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The current balance in the Montreal fund is $67,357; contributions during this period include $5000 from Russia and $90 from Colombia.

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Montreal Fund

The Montreal Fund Committee recommended and the EC approved a contribution of $6000 from the Montreal Fund to support young professional participation at AFRIRPA-04 in Rabat.

Looking at the IRPA-13 to IRPA-14 budget picture, we are on track in all budget categories when allowance is made for the increase of $70000 (half the IRPA-13 proceeds) for stakeholder engagement as part of the IRPA strategic plan.

The Treasurer also presented a proposed procedure for disbursements from the Montreal Fund, and comments on it were made by the EC; the procedure will be revised accordingly and sent out for approval (silent consent) by May 31, 2014.

Actions 3 (to Treasurer):

1. Update Montreal Fund procedure per EC input and distribute for silent approval (done)2. Revise the procedure for disbursements from the Montreal Fund and send it out for

approval (31 May 2014) 3. Send $6000 from Montreal Fund to AfrIRPA 4 (Rabat, Morocco)4. Send apology letter to Montreal Fund Committee members from Associate Societies

explaining that their solicitation was inadvertent, as all Montreal Fund Committee members are from the EC

5. Send dues reminders to laggards6. Ask HPS to Invite CRPA and SMSR to join in bid for IRPA 167. Send Thiagan Pather $50000 loan for IRPA 14 upon receipt of bank information8. Contact Serge Tolmachev on behalf of Roger Coates regarding input to Societies

Admission & Development Committee (completed)9. Contact ICRU for an update on activities, particularly relating to eye lens dose (completed)10. Prepare short (10-15 min) paper for Geneva on Risk Assessment Methods and Risk

Perception11. Send Renate REAC/TS accident registry data and criteria (completed)

Publications Director’s Report

Cooperation with ICRP

As part of IRPA’s cooperation with ICRP, the President suggested a financial contribution to ICRP by IRPA to be higher than the current one. The suggestion was to keep IRPA’s current contribution of 4.000 $, but to guarantee a longer term, which was unanimously approved by the Executive Council. Chris Clements indicated that ICRP has launched a 5-year fund raising campaign aiming at getting financial support with a sustainable or longer term vision. IRPA’s support is currently one of the most significant amounts contributed to ICRP, so having concrete and increased support from IRPA would be extremely valuable to ICRP.

The decision was made to prepare a MoU to be signed between IRPA and ICRP for sustainable support for the next 5 years and the President will strongly recommend same to the next Presidency. Work is bound to grow between both organizations and if IRPA wants to be the voice of RP professionals, it is important to set up this type of cooperation, with the contribution of all RP members in the world.

The President asked the Treasurer if it is possible to continue with an amount of 4000 US$ per year when preparing the budget for the next 4 years, depending on the proceeds from Cape Town. It should be incorporated in the next budget proposal submitted to the General Assembly. An increase will have to be discussed at the next General Assembly too.

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Action 4 (To Publications Director and Treasurer): Chris Clement to draw up MOU between IRPA and ICRP for long term financial support. Dick Toohey to incorporate financial support into IRPA’s budget proposal.

IRPA Bulletin

English is the working language in IRPA’s bulletins, however IRPA is trying to offer translation into languages other than English, such as Korean, German, French, Spanish or Japanese. We are reviewing publications and sending data to the irpa.net news including Facebook and Twitter and are currently looking for volunteers who speak other languages to contribute to IRPA’s publications. If there is a desire to have documents translated into a different language, IRPA will do its best to have it done. For instance, Argentina is translating Spanish versions into English.

Documents in English, French and Japanese are already on the website. Adelene Gaw, member of the Publications Committee, is maintaining contact with all ASs on this topic.

Another initiative is currently in progress, which consists in a mechanism to share publications between societies. Canada, the US, France and the UK are already doing it. HPS and SRP are sharing publications. Each AS has access to the publications of others. If interest is shown in this area, it can be expanded in the next few months.

The President acknowledged that thanks to such initiatives, IRPA’s outreach is improving and thanked all contributors, encouraging them to pursue in this direction.

IRPA 13 / IRPA 14 proceedings

Congrex is taking a long time in completing the last step of finalizing proceedings. A group of volunteers from SRP may be needed to work on manually entering the papers, list of authors, title, pdf files, etc. The current website looks nice, but when looking for documents, it becomes complicated.

There are several options for IRPA14 proceedings, ie to produce a single document for proceedings, even if not to be published, 7 to 10000 pages, with an ISBN. For future congresses, the Publications Director recommends the example of Glasgow with an ebook with ISBN reference.

The President supports this idea: every congress should produce an ebook as proceedings, which is not too expensive. The decision is to be made shortly, based on the Glasgow experience with web archives.

Publication activities

There was a discussion on the fact that IRPA would only advertise events if IRPA is actually involved.

Action 5 (to Publications Director):Chris Clement to list organizations with which IRPA has a cooperation agreement (MOU or other) and to list organizations that have an interest in IRPA.Deadline: End of August 2014

An action was placed on Alfred Hefner to draft proposals for cooperation on conferences, including listing on our website.

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The discussion on Wikipedia showed that it is difficult to change an entry in Wikipedia, as it has to be done by a third party, which means that it is necessary to find volunteers in an AS to change content. For instance, in the Fukushima notes, the intention was wider than IRPA. To make the information more reliable, can we do something as individuals, in a coordinated way, and monitored by Chris Clement? It has to be noted that the result is not in our control.

There ensued a discussion on which organizations should appear on IRPA’s international cooperation page, based on which criteria.

Action 6 (to Publications Director):Chris Clement to coordinate Wikipedia-related efforts through other mechanisms and try to make changes to stay.Chris Clement with members of the Publications Committee to check on Wikipedia what is said about radiation and other key words.

It was agreed that after every external meeting attended by an IRPA EC member there should be a short note available for the IRPA public website. This is important to ensure that our members are aware of our activities, and to keep them engaged.

Feedback from past CongressesWHO-REMPAN meetingThe President was invited to make a presentation at the WHO-REMPAN meeting and received good feedback from the audience and organisers. REMPAN is a network of medical doctors/physicists involved in emergency response. This network is currently looking at training their medical people in RP and dosimetry, which is an important topic not only for them also for IRPA e.g. the development of a schedule for training courses of medical physics experts in cooperation with IOMP.

Action 7 (To President):Renate Czarwinski to prepare a thank-you letter to WHO’s/REMPAN for their invitation, indicating that IRPA is interested in cooperation on emergency response in the medical field.

IOMP Congress in Brighton The Vice President presented emergency preparedness at the IOMP Congress in Brighton in September 2013, where interest was shown in wider education of specialist and general medical people. The agreement was to continue joint development of schedule of training courses for medical experts. A proposal will be sent by Richard Vetter in June 2014.

Forthcoming IRPA Regional congresses and IRPA Congress

The issue of the quality of refresher courses was discussed and an action was placed on Alfred Hefner and Eduardo Gallego to stipulate what IRPA’s expectations are in this area, with an indication of what Eduardo’ and Alfred’s role should be and how to control quality.

Action 8 (To Alfred Hefner and Eduardo Gallego):Alfred Hefner and Eduardo Gallego to prepare a 1-page guidance note on expectation for refresher courses (the course organiser should consider which is the target audience, basic level course for laypeople or advanced training)Deadline: December 2014

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Regional Conference in Geneva - June 2014

Alfred Hefner described the status of the preparation of the Young Professional Award in Geneva which currently includes 12 candidates and the process is running smoothly. The Young Professional award has 12 candidates and the process is running smoothly.

African IRPA Regional Congress, Rabat, Morocco, 13-17 September 2014

Thiagan Pather presented the status of the Regional Congress in September. Preparation work is forging ahead and feedback is better than during the previous EC meeting in Ottawa. According to Thiagan Pather, the Regional Congress is organised in a satisfactory way.

Latin-American IRPA Regional Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12-17 April, 2015

Ana Maria Bomben made a presentation on the Congress current status. Local support is given by the regulator (ARN and CNEA) as well as by IAEA and WHO.

The Congress Honorary President, is Abel J. Gonzalez.

There will be 10 South American Associate Societies involved in the Congress, some belonging to IRPA and others not. It would be a good idea to encourage the latter to join IRPA.

The program will include emergency preparedness and the website is in Spanish, English, and Portuguese in near future.

IRPA meeting in the U.S. in 2024

Dick Toohey indicated that after the HPS was invited to host IRPA 16, it was discussed by the EC last year, with a highlight on the main theme ‘Harmonisation of RP’ (global harmonisation of regulatory guidance). If approved, this will be the second IRPA congress organised by HPS in the life of IRPA.

As a reminder, a bid has also been received by the Australasian Society.

A proposal and related bid are currently being put together and will be presented in Cape Town. The HPS is working on a brochure describing the positives of Orlando as a venue.

IRPA Guiding Principles and other projected guidelines (All)

A copy of the Guiding Principles on Radiation Protection Culture was given to each EC member, a project which started in 2008 and was completed in 2014. A discussion followed on the way forward with other future IRPA guidelines in the collection. This is an important step for IRPA and the EC, as it is a strong international force and a major opportunity to gather RP experience to communicate to others. Thanks to the efficient support of the Publications Director, the electronic version is now in free access.

Certification could be the next topic on the agenda. The goal is to have some professionals get together in a task group to provide data to others.

Action 9 (to Exec. Officer):Bernard Le Guen to send a circular letter to the AS informing them of the publication of IRPA’s RP guidelines with indication of relevant link. Deadline: 10 June 2014

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Other topics

1. The Vice President announced that a one-day workshop on ethics was organised by SRP for 11th June, 2014, in London, with attendance of approximately 40 SRP members. The topics included ethical issues within the system of protection, ethics in the application of the system and challenges to communication and understanding of radiation risk

2. The Vice President gave some clarification on the draft MoU on rules for Regional Congresses, which was followed by a discussion on ground rules. The draft MOU is based on what was drawn up for IRPA 13, which would work for Regional or International Congress. The idea is to trial this MoU with Ana Maria Bomben for the Buenos Aires Congress for further update after clarification of what is required. The President of the Argentinian AS has received it and will discuss it further with Ana Maria Bomben.

Action 10 ( to Vice President):Roger Coates to update current draft MOU and transfer to Ana Maria Bomben and EC for trial. - Deadline: 10th June, 2014

Progress report on Committee and Task Group activities

Committees

Radiation Protection Strategy and Practice Committee The President reminded the EC members that the objective of this committee is to lead and focus IRPA’s cooperation with international organizations and the Associate Societies to ensure that the experience of radiation protection practitioners is effectively applied in the development of the system of protection, thereby ascertaining that practitioners are informed of current issues and outcomes.

Ongoing work within IAEA has been monitored. The draft DS453 Standard on Occupational Radiation Protection has included some further comment on eye dose issues, and this is being reviewed by the TG in cooperation with the eye lens dose limit TG, for comment by the June deadline. We are aware that work is proceeding on a medical guidance document, and this will also be reviewed by the TG when the draft is released by IAEA.

Action 11 (To President):The President to send a written status report on the Radiation Protection Strategy and Practice Committee activities in the next few weeks.

Societies’ Admissions and Development Committee

The Vice President has nominated a membership list of 9 members, with input from 6. Work to create a new AS is a subset of the committee. There was no further comment from the EC.

Task Groups

Certification TG

Eduardo Gallego indicated that it is mainly the Chair of this Task Group, Kent Lambert, who has been active. So far, the Task Group has been collecting existing material on the IRPA website (Australia, Canada, UK, USA). The next activity was to distribute a questionnaire with 6 questions

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on what is currently being done and what should be done in different countries, which was answered by several societies (13).

It would be useful to have IRPA guidance on how to create a certification system or how to modify it.

The idea is to now send a reminder to the Associate Societies that have not yet answered, with a view to have the relevant AS start drafting simple guidance, so as to warrant minimum requirements in the countries which do not have a certification system.

Certification could be the next topic on the agenda. The goal is to have some professionals get together in a task group to provide data to others. At the end of the process, this TG could submit an IRPA guideline, which could be part of the same series as the guidelines on radiation protection culture.

Education and Training TG

Eduardo Gallego will make a presentation at the Geneva plenary session (‘Fostering RP culture based on education’) and was invited by Morocco to organize and participate in a workshop on educational needs in Africa. This will be a 4-hour workshop during the regional congress in Rabat, with the participation of Thiagan Pather and other experts.

A set of questions have been prepared by Eduardo Gallego and Alf.ed Hefner, such as the requirements for education and training for qualified experts, RP officers, radiation qualified professionals, etc.

The EC was pleased to see this positive evolution and acknowledged that it is a good way to promote proper education and training to identify needs in Africa with an outcome that is important for the South African congress.

Action 12 (To Eduardo Gallego):Eduardo Gallego to prepare a summary on status report by end of May.Eduardo Gallego to send out finalized TOR for nomination of members of the TG.

Public Understanding of Radiation Risk TG (Richard Vetter)

The goal of this TG is to facilitate the sharing of good practices in radiation risk communication by building a library for access to all AS members. It was decided that the TG would meet electronically. Richard Vetter has sent a short table on the status of activities. The TG members have received the final TOR and have shared resources ranging from US, UK, Australia, which have tons of resources (US have more than 10000 questions)

However, it is not possible to put everything on the website and the TG is looking for resources. The next step is to decide what to do with the resources. The site map will be a description with some data available for the public.

The group will need to keep 2 purposes in mind, the data available for the AS and information to the public. It will have to include a disclaimer as IRPA, acting only as a facilitator, cannot endorse all data.

The next question was how to inform the AS, the public, social media sites, and news organizations on this new development. IRPA should be careful about countries having little input, as they could complain to IRPA about this situation.

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Eye Lens Dose Limit TG

The Final Report of this TG was approved at the Ottawa EC meeting, submitted to the IAEA and the work was presented at the ICRP Abu Dhabi meeting. The report was published in the Journal of Radiological Protection [JRP 33 (4), 855-868, (2013)], together with an editorial from the President.

Ongoing work within IAEA has been monitored. The draft DS453 Standard on Occupational Radiation Protection has included some further comment on eye dose issues, and this is being reviewed by the TG for comment by the June deadline. We are aware that work is proceeding on a medical guidance document, and this will also be reviewed by the TG when the draft is released by IAEA.

It is not clear whether this work will adequately address all the recommendations made in the report. Two recommendations in particular are worth further attention:

The IRPA Executive Council should promote a further study leading to an international protocol, regarding recommendations for monitoring dose to the lens of the eye.

The appropriate guidance, to be provided by regulators, must be sought in a timely manner to assist implementation of any changes introduced. This should include requirements on management, means of protection, dose estimations and monitoring systems.

Work is going in on within IAEA to produce a document on this topic. When available, this will be passed on to the TG.

Security of Radioactive Sources TG

Roger Coates reminded the EC that Chris Engelfield is the Chair of this Task Group which is running slow at the moment as the Chair recently retired.

Some information has just come out and Chris Engelfield has included it in his work plan.

Young professional network

Alfred Hefner introduced a summary table on the responses to the questionnaire on young professional groups. Thanks to Sven Nagels, who worked hard on finalizing the table. 16 individuals have answered the questionnaire. Only 5 AS have a young professional group.

For future congresses (including Geneva), a special get-together session is to be organized with attendance of young people coordinated by a maximum of 2 senior members, for a debate on how to go forward. Since the Glasgow Congress, the system has been working smoothly.

There followed a discussion on what a young professional is. Can this include full time students associated with RP science? If they can be full member of an AS, the answer is yes. It was agreed that there is an urgent need to get proper Terms of Reference and a work programme for this group.

Action 13 (To Alfred Hefner):Alfred Hefner to copy Renate Czarwinski and Bernard Le Guen with email to Sven, mentioning the report expected for the next EC.

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Education and training The status of the online database on E&T events and resources was presented by Eduardo Gallego and Chris Clement. The database is up and running, however it has not been used much. What is missing now is a guidance on its use.

International stakeholder engagement

CRPPH

It was announced that Sigurður Magnùsson is leaving the CRPPH bureau. IRPA is an observer but should IRPA be in the bureau and is that usual with CRPPH? There are some requests in that direction but it is not sure that it is possible.

European Commission Article 31 Group of Experts

There was a request for a report from IRPA on activities. The Executive Officer attended the meeting on behalf of IRPA President and made a presentation on IRPA, which received good feedback.

As to the transposition of the European Directive into national law, this is a good opportunity for IRPA to attend some of their working groups. Their main issue relates to the implementation of RP experts, which is exactly in IRPA’s competence.

ICRP

The President would like to see feedback on IRPA’s suggestions for cooperation with ICRP given to the Main Commission in Abu Dhabi 2013 and to obtain some input before the next meeting which will be held in London in November 2014. An invitation will go out in a few weeks for the November meeting in London

ICRU

The Treasurer presented a summary of what has been done by ICRU, in particular on dosimetry for eye lens.

ICNIRP

A cooperation with ICNIRP is in place. Eric van Rongen at ICNIRP announced a meeting to take place on the last day of the Geneva conference. The program has been sent to all EC members and Jacques Lochard will present the ICRP 103 document. ICNIRP is also looking for a speaker on ‘Risk assessment approaches and risk perception’.

UNSCEAR

There has been no official contact and IRPA is not an observer. However, UNSCEAR occasionally sends information.

The President was asked by Maria Perez at WHO to participate in a workshop which deals with data collection in the medical area. The AS could play a role in general data collection, in particular in the medical area. UNSCEAR is looking to have some transfer of information. There was a 2-hour workshop in Kuala Lumpur and the President was invited to give a welcome.

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ILO

The cooperation with ILO is indirect, ie through the IAEA for the 2nd International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection in December. It was debated whether IRPA should have a booth and in addition, RP practitioners could make a contribution.

NCRP

The Treasurer is IRPA representative for NCRP. IRPA is in the program committee of next NCRP annual meeting. There is good cooperation with IRPA, with phone conferences. The NCRP website for this past year meeting is of high interest, but also in the future

Action 14 (To Publications Director)Chris Clement to set up link to the next NCRP meeting on IRPA website.

IAEA

The Vice President asked if IRPA is going to attend the IAEA annual general conference. It has a specific NGO forum and IRPA could make a presentation, if warned ahead of time. The President would like to have an IRPA booth organised (free of charge). The conference is only attended by NGOs (approx. 20) but it could be useful.

As to IRPA position on implementation of the IAEA BSS, this is a question for IOMP. The ASs will have to be approached for their comments on this matter. Richard Vetter will contact Ken Kase for further input.

IAEA-RASSC

We received an invitation to be observer in RASSC, which the President accepted. The President encouraged EC members to attend on behalf of IRPA, as it is important to coordinate efforts. The attendance will be coordinated by the President.

Cooperation with professional organizations

IOMP

IOMP has invited Rich to cooperate on a book as a co-editor. Most authors have been identified. There will soon be a first meeting to work on the book and its format.

IRPA could have someone from IOMP at IRPA14, who would be linking with the University Day and participate in education workshops.

Action 15 ( To Rich Vetter):As part of the cooperation with IOMP, Rich Vetter to inform all EC members on the status of the IOMP book as and when new information is available,

ACCIRAD

Richard Vetter presented the status on this topic. ACCIRAD is currently implementing this process but IRPA no longer has a role to play in this matter.

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FORO

The Executive Officer presented the signed agreement. It is a step forward and it will be further discussed during the 2015 meeting in Buenos Aires.

HPS (Meeting in Baton Rouge)

Richard Vetter reported that the meeting was poorly attended, as the weather was absolutely terrible. People got stranded in Atlanta because of snow storms. No occupational doctor from the nuclear industry attended. However, the content of the meeting was excellent and attendees gave good feedback on the meeting.

Vendors complained about the poor attendance, less than 300, for at least 400 needed to break even. Consequently, HPS will likely stop holding topical meetings, with a risk that less will attend the annual meeting.

German School for Physics

The President presented a request from the School for Physics in Germany: a conference sponsored by two German physicists is to take place from 10 to 22 August, 2014, with approximately 80 lectures from international experts. The conference is limited to 50 participants, for a fee of only 200 € per participant, preparing for masters and PhD degrees in radiation sciences. The idea is to draw the attention of students on the latest developments in RP sciences. Upon request by the President, Eduardo Gallego will try to find an expert to present ‘Radionuclide transfer to food chain’.

Future of cooperation with WNA

The Vice President presented the status of the current cooperation and proposed that IRPA move forward in the following direction: there is a good basis for relationship with a formal MoU, which should be explored. IRPA could contribute to a particular issue WNA is supporting. Their main meeting takes place in September. As a first step, the Vice President will have an informal exchange at working level to see what their views are and to see if the group on radiation protection can contact IRPA.

Action 16 (to Vice President):1st step: Roger Coates to informally contact group at working level and explore the basis to establish a meeting between the Presidents.Deadline: 30th September, 20142nd step: based on the feedback, the President to send an email to the President of WNA

Arrangement for the 67th EC meeting in 2015

The President has received a letter from the Argentinian AS inviting IRPA EC to participate in the 2015 Congress in Argentina (12 to 17 April, 2015) and to host the EC (Sunday 12 morning, half day on Monday 13 and half day on Tuesday 14 April), 2015).

As these dates will overlap with the main ICRP commission in Sidney, Chris Clement will not be able to attend.

Action 17 (To Ana Maria Bomben in coordination with the Exec. Officer): Ana Maria Bomben to contact Bernard Le Guen and Renate Czarwinski by end of 2014 with a

draft program. Ana Maria Bomben to organise EC accommodation and to inform Bernard le Guen about all EC

meeting arrangements.

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The President thanked Ana Maria Bomben and the President of SAR for hosting the next EC meeting in Buenos Aires in 2015.

After all topics on the agenda had been addressed, the President thanked all EC members for their strong engagement and enthusiasm. In her opinion, it was excellent way forward, as IRPA receives positive feedback on our work.

The President closed the 66th EC meeting on May 11th, 2013 at 6pm.