Radiological Protection (Amendment) Act 2018

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PART 2

Amendment of Principal Act

Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

3. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “activity”:

“ ‘activity’ (A), other than in relation to a human activity and a relevant activity, is the activity of an amount of radionuclide in a particular energy state at a given time. It is the quotient of dN by dt, where dN is the expectation value of the number of nuclear transitions from that energy state in the time interval dt:

A=dN/dt

The unit of activity is the bequerel (Bq);”,

(b) in the definition of “medical or dental application”, by the substitution of “radiation sources” for “radioactive substances, nuclear devices or irradiating apparatus”,

(c) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “radioactive substance”:

“ ‘radioactive substance’ means any substance that contains one or more radionuclides the activity or activity concentration of which cannot be disregarded from a radiation protection point of view;”,

(d) in the definition of “radiological hazards”, by the substitution of “and radiation sources” for “, radioactive substances, nuclear devices and irradiating apparatus”, and

(e) by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘accelerator’ means equipment or installation in which particles are accelerated, emitting ionising radiation with energy higher than 1 mega-electron volt (MeV);

‘Agency’ means the Environmental Protection Agency;

‘apprentice’ means a person receiving training or instruction within an undertaking with a view to the person concerned exercising a specific skill;

‘authorisation’ means registration or a licence;

‘carers and comforters’ means individuals knowingly and willingly incurring an exposure to ionising radiation by helping, other than as part of their occupation, in the support and comfort of individuals undergoing or having undergone medical exposure;

‘European act’ has the meaning given to it by section 8 (3) of the European Union Act 2009 ;

‘exposure’ means the act of exposing or condition of being exposed to ionising radiation emitted outside the body (external exposure) or within the body (internal exposure);

‘licence’ means a licence granted by the Agency pursuant to regulations made under section 30 to permit a person to carry out, subject to the conditions (if any) specified in the licence, the relevant activity in respect of which the licence is granted;

‘licensee’ means a person to whom a licence is for the time being granted;

‘medical exposure’ means exposure incurred by patients or asymptomatic individuals as part of their own medical or dental diagnosis or treatment and intended to benefit their health as well as exposure incurred by carers and comforters and by volunteers;

‘members of the public’ means individuals who may be subject to public exposure;

‘non-medical imaging exposure’ means any deliberate exposure of humans for imaging purposes where the primary intention of the exposure is not to bring a health benefit to the individual being exposed;

‘normal exposure’ means exposure expected to occur under the normal operating conditions of a facility or human activity (including maintenance, inspection, decommissioning) including minor incidents that can be kept under control, that is to say, during normal operation and anticipated occupational occurrences;

‘occupational exposure’ means exposure of workers, apprentices and students incurred in the course of their work;

‘planned exposure situation’ means an exposure situation that arises from the planned operation of a radiation source or from a human activity which alters exposure pathways so as to cause the exposure or potential exposure of people or the environment and may include both normal exposures and potential exposures;

‘potential exposure’ means exposure that is not expected with certainty but may result from an event or sequence of events of a probabilistic nature, including equipment failures and operating errors;

‘practice’ means a relevant activity that is managed as a planned exposure situation;

‘public exposure’ means exposure of individuals excluding occupational or medical exposure;

‘radiation generator’ means a device capable of generating ionising radiation such as x-rays, neutrons, electrons or other charged particles including irradiating apparatus and nuclear generators;

‘radiation source’ means an entity that may cause exposure such as by emitting ionising radiation or by releasing radioactive material and encompasses a radiation generator, radioactive material, radioactive source and radioactive substance;

‘radioactive material’ means material incorporating radioactive substances;

‘radioactive source’ means a radiation source incorporating radioactive material for the purpose of utilising its radioactivity;

‘registered person’ means a person to whom a registration is for the time being granted;

‘registration’ means registration of a relevant activity granted by the Agency pursuant to regulations made under section 30 to permit a person to carry out, subject to the conditions (if any) attached to the registration, the relevant activity;

‘relevant activity’ means a human activity which can increase the exposure of individuals to radiation from a radiation source and includes the custody, production, processing, handling, holding, storage, use, recycling, manufacture, import, distribution, transport, export or other disposal of the radiation source;

‘undertaking’ means a person who has legal responsibility for the carrying out of a practice or for a radiation source (including where the owner or holder of the radiation source does not conduct related human activities);”.