International Conference on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning, Environmental Protection and Remediation: Ensuring Safety and Enabling Sustainability

Updating the ANRDR: sustaining safe practice in the face of an expanding radiation industry in Australia

Not scheduled

20m

M-Building (IAEA Headquarters, Vienna)

POSTER Track 4 - Integrating the views of society into decision-making considering technical, environmental, social, and economic factors

Speaker

Mr B. Tate (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency)

Description

Radioactive materials find frequent use in many aspects of industry and research; however, it is vital to ensure the safety of the radiation worker during their use. One area of concern is the aggregate dose received by a worker across their career, which may be difficult to track due to changing employers, industries, and personal and professional details. This information is vital for effective decision-making about worker safety and roles.

Due to Australia’s rapidly evolving nuclear industry, the sustainability of existing procedures for tracking dose are likely to be challenged. Australia had previously implemented a national dose register for uranium mine workers in 2011 that expanded to included occupationally exposed Commonwealth employees in 2017, but with the expansion of Australia’s nuclear industry, the need to extend this system to a truly national and industry wide system has taken on a new sustainable focus.

The present work will briefly present the background of Australian National Radiation Dose Register (ANRDR), its existing successes, and some of the challenges in the expansion of it from a limited scope to a truly industry-wide register which will be sustainable for the future.

Presentation materials

Updating the ANRDR- sustaining safe practice in the face of an expanding radiation industry in Australia .docx