Legislation and database for the use of radioactive sources in Switzerland Brauchen Sie die Tastenkombination ALT + F8 um die Automation aufzurufen. Anschliessend klicken Sie auf den Knopf "Ausführen" Thomas Flury, PhD, Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland Thomas.flury@bag.admin.ch

Outline Legislation Authorities Licensing Database Radioactive Sources Registry Drawbacks

Switzerland Direct democracy 8.3 Million people 4 languages 41’000 km2 Zermatt Direct democracy 8.3 Million people 4 languages 41’000 km2 11.1 kg chocolate per Capita per year Zurich

Legal basis: the concept of radiation protection Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation People Art. 119 of April 18. 1999 Within the limits of its powers, the Confederation shall take measures for the protection of health…It shall legislate on protection against ionizing radiation. Radiological Protection Act Parliament Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) Art. 9 of 22 June 1991 In order to limit the radiation exposure...it shall be required to adopt all measures dictated by experience and the state of the scientific and technological art. Radiological Protection Ordinance Art. 6 of 22 June 1994 Federal Council (Bundesrat) Radiological protection associated with justified activities shall be deemed to be optimized provided: the appropriate different possible solutions shall have been individually assessed and compared with each other;

Legal basis: relevant legislation for medical applications Law Parliament Federal Council Ordinance Department Technical Ordinances

Federal Office of Public Health Federal Office of Energy Authorities Industry, public Nuclear industry Federal Office of Public Health Surveillance FOPH (Public, medicine) SUVA (Industry) Federal Office of Energy Surveillance ENSI 5 Nuclear Power Plants

Licensing Radioactive material (sealed and unsealed) All activities using ionizing radiation need a license Radioactive material (sealed and unsealed) Equipment producing ionizing radiation (U > 5kV) X-ray (medical, non-medical) Particle accelerators (research, production, therapy)

Nuclide activity for licensing Defined activities for each nuclide (LA) iOS App NuklidCalc (en,de,fr), free Nuclide information IAEA D-Values Handy calculations Decay Activity vs Doserate Converter Ci-Bq Soon also for Android

Minimal conditions for a license Use is justified, optimised and dose limits respected Trained personnel Measurement equipment available Construction: Shielding, ventilation etc. Quality assurance Waste management

Licensing database ~21’000 licences in Switzerland (power plants excluded) Database accessible by authorities (FOPH,SUVA) Based on Oracle Types of authorized activities (radioactive sources) Use of sealed sources or unsealed sources Sources for medical or non-medical use Isotope production (accelerators, generators) Storage Import, export, transport, commerce

Screenshot of Database Authorizations Specifications Authorized nuclide Authorized activity Source Information Flag HASS

License handling Export to Microsoft Word License is signed Valid 10 years Changes must be announced Yearly declarations for HASS, unsealed sources and commerce Periodic inspections by authority

Sealed sources registry HASS sources Serial number and certificate known and stored Sources with activities < D-value First FOPH gives license, then licensee orders source Merchant must check that source and activity are authorized before selling Often no serial numbers or certificates in database Sources are changed without notification but shouldn’t

High activity sealed sources Import needs a special one time authorization License holder must declare source once per year License holder must provide financial guarantees for the eventual elimination of the source

License revocation If a license is no longer needed, the licensee has to make sure to dispose of the disused sources in a correct way Return to the supplier Recycling Temporary decay storage Delivery for long-term storage Information about the fate of disused sources is stored in database

Drawbacks Orphan sources found in e.g. scrap metal plants Identification difficult because serial number not necessarily in licensing database Yearly declarations run through different data base Future Work Bookkeeping of source information needs to be improved New database which combines everything

Future New radioprotection ordinances in 2018 Most notable changes Training in radioprotection every 4 years Security for radioactive sources New database ready in 1-2 years

Questions Federal Office of Public Health, Bern, Switzerland