Radiation protection: Don’t be afraid!

In our daily life we are all exposed to natural radiation from the surrounding environment and even our bodies emit nuclear radiation. These radiation are harmless, however in some occupational activities employees can encounter high levels of radiation. In these lines of work, the employer should provide the appropriate protections and comply with all the regulations and standards of the radiation protection.

What are the regulations, standards and other directives on nuclear/radiation protection? What is the employer’s responsibility?

In 1896, Henri Becquerel observed for the first time the nuclear radiation. He noticed the event after the darkening of photographic plates in a drawer where a specimen of uranium sulphate was also present. Then, in 1898, Marie Curie called this phenomenon “radioactivity”. This discovery, as important as it is, caused severe health problems for Marie Curie causing her death. However, today better protective equipment is used to handle radioactive materials. 

Everyday the human body is exposed to these radioactive substances which are present in our surroundings, the environment, our houses and our food. But the levels of radioactivity are low and do not harm us. In the United States, on average the citizens receive 6.2 mSv a year from all sources. The Canadian citizens are exposed to an effective dose from natural sources which is around 1.8 mSv a year. On a European level, the estimated level of radiation is around 0.5 mSv a year which is close to the global average dose of 0.48 mSv. All these radiation include also ones that are reaching us from outer space.

What is radioactivity?

Radioactivity is the phenomenon by which an unstable nucleus of an atom loses energy in a form of radiation. In other words, some unstable atoms in nature transform into other more stable atoms by releasing energies.

There are 4 types of radiation, the particle radiations (alpha, beta, neutron) and electromagnetic radiation (e.g. gamma rays and x-rays). The electromagnetic radiations are the most known radiations because they are widely used in the medical field.

Laws, regulations and standards

The employer is responsible for the protection and safety of their employees during their occupational activities. In addition, this responsibility is greater when workers are conducting their daily tasks with radioactive materials/environment. In every country there are laws and regulations to help protect workers and visitors on site.

The Euratom Community in Europe aims to protect the public and workers from the risks of high levels of exposure. The Basic Safety Standards Directive 2013/59/Euratom specifies the rules to prevent and protect all workers from the radiation and all the actions and measurements put in place to control the radioactive source.

In Great Britain, the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 is applied in all work environments which contain radioactive materials and sources. This regulation also adopts the worker safety aspects of the Directive 2013/59/Euratom.

In the United States, the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) helps to regulate the use of radioactive materials to protect the health and safety of the public and the environment. Along with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), their aim is to protect the public from ionising sources and protect the environment from hazardous and dangerous radioactive materials and waste. When it comes to protecting the workers, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) obliges the employer to take the necessary measures and actions to maintain and control the ionising radiation sources. 

The ISO 20553:2006 standard “specifies the minimum requirements to monitor workers occupationally exposed to a risk of internal contamination with radioactive materials”. This standard defines the programmes which organisations should follow in order to measure the radiation levels to which the workers are exposed. 

The radiation exposure monitoring in all the laws, regulations and standards must mention the radiation dose limits depending on the type of activity, the area and the physical situation of the worker. 

Protection from ionising radiation and applications

Working Areas

The type of protective equipment depends on the radiation levels that every person is going to be exposed to. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has defined a signage scheme for radiation areas according to the level of the radiological risks.

They define five different areas, from the least to the highest radiation levels:

• Supervised area
• Simple controlled area
• Limited stay controlled area
• High radiation controlled area
• Prohibited controlled area (very limited accessibility)

In every area, a dosimeter or also called radiation badge should always be worn by every person and/or employee, in addition to another dosimeter to control the ambient radiation exposure. These dosimeters are used to measure the exposure of every worker to external occupational radiation during the time of intervention in the workplace. Depending on the occupational activity there are different types of dosimeter, such as full body, ring dosimeter, eyewear dosimeter etc.

ALARA and PPEs

The aim in a radioactive working environment is to keep the radiation levels As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA). ALARA’s principle is to be exposed to the smallest dose possible and even if this dose has no dangerous effect, it is better to avoid it.

To achieve this, there are some basic protective measures:

• Time: reducing the amount of time spent working with radioactive material or near a radioactive source.
• Distance: When conducting occupational tasks, it is better to be the farthest distance of a radioactive material/source
• Shielding: Protecting the employee, employer and everyone involved from a radiation source. Each protection measure will depend on the type of radiation (paper, aluminium, water or concrete layers). However, in addition to the shielding material that is installed other personal protective equipment (PPE) can be also used.

The employer should provide to all his workers and visitors (auditors, trainees, clients…) adequate protection equipment free of charge to conduct their tasks. When it comes to ionising radiations, it’s a category III PPEs that are adopted. 

It is also important to use special survey equipment (survey metre) that will measure the radiations (e.g. alpha, beta and gamma radiations…). This will ensure that the PPEs did not get contaminated and should be preserved in good conditions for reuse.

Radio Protection Officer and Adviser

In every company, organisation, or laboratory, the employer should appoint an employee as a Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) or have a Radiation Protection Officer (RPO). They make sure that the employees are safe when they are dealing with radioactive sources or radioactive working environments. They also make sure that all the protocols and procedures have complied with the regulations.

They are also responsible for the record-keeping of all radioactive data, sending the dosimeters to be analysed by the authorities and making sure that all the files of the exposed employees are well followed and medically supervised.

To be an RPA or RPO, you have to follow a training programme in order to be able to conduct the corresponding tasks. There are specialised training bodies in nuclear security in every country which have programmes that are compliant with the regulations of the country and the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Record-keeping and audits

The record-keeping and reports involving the exposure to ionising radiation is mandatory and should be kept at least 30 years after the end of the occupational activity involving radioactive exposure. This information is not only a basic and essential requirement in the ISO standards but it is found in all the regulations of every country when it comes to occupational tasks exposed to radioactive materials.

It is important to have regular internal audits in order to make sure that all the procedures and the radiation protection programme are well implemented and respected. These audits will help detect anomalies and unconformities in the procedures or the radiation protection programme and make fast decisions to put in place all the necessary corrective measures.

Application cases for radiation protection

Although it only has been discovered in the late 19th century, this natural resource is now widely used and developed in many countries and domains.

Here are some few examples of uses of radiation:

• It is used in the medical field for treatments, diagnosis and scans. It has proven its importance in the medical field and it has allowed to save lives with the radiation treatments.
• Nuclear radiation has proven its importance thanks to academic and scientific studies. For example, the use of C-14 carbon dating has proven its importance when it comes to date many natural and archaeological discoveries. In the academic field, radioactivity is widely used in the field of physics to push the boundaries of science furthermore, especially when it comes to space exploration.
• Nuclear power plants: one of the most common and well known uses of radioactive energy, is to generate electricity. This application is widely used in many countries in the world and with the rise of GreenHouse Gases (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere, some countries are considering to re-develop this type of power generation to reduce the GHG emissions.

Radioactive materials and sources are widely used to benefit us. However, radiation protection is essential to ensure the safety of everyone. Therefore radiation protection must be well monitored and supervised. Also it requires important protection measures as well as very specific regulations. Academic and scientific research on radiation protection are pushing the limits further in order to answer all the social and scientific challenges.

To go further: 

> Improve your Risk Management and check out our BlueKanGo’s expert review (available on BlueKanGo’s Marketplace)