The independent qualified expert as an inspector Koen Persyn, Jef Van Cauteren, AV Controlatom

1. The independent qualified expert as an inspectorKoen Persyn, Jef Van Cauteren, AV Controlatom Uppsalara 2004

2. Introduction • Legal framework in Belgium • Practical organisation of the radiological protection • Advantages of the system • Consequences for ALARA • The future in Belgium Uppsalara 2004

3. Legal framework in Belgium • Class • Licenses • Health Physics department • Independent inspection body • FANC Uppsalara 2004

4. Legal framework in Belgium • Class I • nuclear power plants • research reactors • facilities in the nuclear fuel cycle • nuclear waste conditioning or storage facilities • Own health physics department • ‘Continuous inspection’ Uppsalara 2004

5. Legal framework in Belgium • Class II • nuclear medicine departments • radiotherapy facilities in hospitals • non destructive testing companies • industry using high radio toxicity sources or high activities of e.g. Co-60 or Cs-137 sources • research laboratories (open sources) • Seldom own health physics department • Inspection at least every three months Uppsalara 2004

6. Legal framework in Belgium • Class III • radiology departments • Dentists • smaller in-vitro laboratories • industries using lower activities of e.g. Cs-137, Kr-85 or Sr-90 sources • industrial applications of X-rays under 200 kV • Never own health physics department • Inspection at least once a year Uppsalara 2004

7. Practical organisation of the radiological protection • Class I • Health physics department led by qualified expert • Inspection body confirm decisions taken by, procedures issued by and studies performed by health physics department • Occasional supplementary inspections by regulatory body Uppsalara 2004

8. Practical organisation of the radiological protection • Class II and III • Protection studies, procedures, … directly by independant inspection body • Full inspection following legal schedule • Rare inspections by regulatory body Uppsalara 2004

9. Practical organisation of the radiological protection • Qualified expert • University degree in engineering or science • Sound training in radiological protection, including an important field experience • Continuous training (6 year’s license) Uppsalara 2004

10. Practical organisation of the radiological protection • Tasks of the qualified expert • Definition of the controlled area • Introduction and inspection of the means of protection • Supervision of contamination measurements • Determination of individual doses • … Uppsalara 2004

11. Advantages of the system • Only some 20 experts responsible for radiological protection in almost all class II and III installations in Belgium. • Level of radiological protection in all installations comparable • One installation could always benefit from the experience of other installations • Introduction of new application in a uniform way for all installations wanting to use this application • Training of the expert Uppsalara 2004

12. Consequences for ALARA • Really specialised experts look at every aspect of radiological protection. In this way the highest level of ALARA is attained, also for small installations. • For every new application, radiological protection rules are implemented in all practices at the same time and at the same level Uppsalara 2004

13. Consequences for ALARA • Doses of workers doing comparable jobsare compared • Information on all incidents and accidents is instantaneously spread over all experts. Uppsalara 2004

14. The future in Belgium ? ? ? ? Uppsalara 2004

15. The future in Belgium • The system has worked well in Belgium for almost 40 years • From September 2005 on the FANC has to combine the task of regulatory body and the tasks of the independant inspection body • It is not yet clear what the implications will be for the radiological protection in Belgium. Uppsalara 2004