IMPLEMENTATION OF RAIS IN THE REGULATORY PROCESS IN GHANA MS. BARAKA BENSON RAIS OPERATOR NUCLEAR REGULATORY AUTHORITY

PRESENTATION OUTLINE INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND RAIS ACTIVITIES IN GHANA BENEFITS OF RAIS CHALLENGES CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND-1 Atomic Energy ACT 204 in 1963 (amended to ACT 588 in 2000) in session 3.(1)b gave the mandate to Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) to advise government on nuclear applications and safety. In session 3.(1)e of the ACT 588 in 2000, the mandate to supervise the carrying out of all requirements designed to secure the safety and health of radiation workers and the environment was given to Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND-2 Radiation facilities were not under any mandate to account to anybody. Hence there was no effective radiation source accountability and regulation. In 1993, Legislative Instrument LI 1559 was promulgated to establish Radiation Protection Board (RPB) to regulate ionising radiation in Ghana.(Session 2.d )

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND-3 The RPB started to retrospectively register radiation source inventory in books since the mandate was given to RPB in session 2(g) of the LI 1559 to “keep a register of owners of irradiating devices, radioactive materials and other sources of ionizing radiation imported into or manufactured in Ghana and of premises licenced to dispose of radioactive waste.” The coming of RAIS 1.0, gave the RPB the opportunity to computerise the source inventories.

RAIS ACTIVITIES IN GHANA - 1 Currently, the existing Nuclear Regulatory Act, ACT 895 of 2015, session 27 .1 gives the authority full control to establish and maintain a national register of radiation sources and nuclear material. Session 27 .2 also allows the categorization of radiation sources in the national register to take account of their potential to cause injury to persons, society and the environment.

RAIS ACTIVITIES IN GHANA - 2 Session 27 .3 again allows the authority to adopt measures to protect information contained in the national register to ensure that the safety and security of a registered source is not compromised.

RAIS ACTIVITIES IN GHANA - 3 Implementation of RAIS in our regulatory process has come with benefits and challenges. The use of RAIS 1.1 – 2.2 did not allow customisation and in most of the transitions, the interface not user friendly. The coming of RAIS 3.0 gave us the opportunity to customise the regulatory activities suite national demand.

RAIS ACTIVITIES IN GHANA - 3 The RAIS 3.1 web portal allowed us to intensify our information security i.e. providing access on four privilege levels (Administrators, Regulators, Users and Guest). RAIS 3.4 is currently being used to track enforcement, authorisations/permits (import and export) and scheduling of inspections.

BENEFITS OF RAIS RAIS has aided us in tracking all our regulatory process i.e. permits/authorisations, inspection scheduling and enforcement. Through customisation, RAIS has enabled us to upload inspection reports on the web for operator access. Through the data confidentiality function, RAIS has enabled us to intensity information security.

CHALLENGES -1 The retrospective capture of existing radiation sources in the RAIS 1.0 was a tedious task. The migration of data within the different versions of RAIS 1.0-2.0 had to be done manually i.e. overall data input in new versions anytime there is an upgrade. The migration from RAIS 2.0 to 3.0 was successful with the IAEA data transfer software but some field in RAIS 2.0 was not applicable in RAIS 3.0.

CONCLUSION Application of RAIS to our regulatory process has benefitted Ghana. It has been part of the history in the regulation of radiation sources. Appreciation goes to the IAEA for training our staff on the RAIS. Our internal mechanism has ensured that knowledge on RAIS is passed on from generation to generation.

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