Category: Features

The amended Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) Radiation Protection Regulations were published in November of 2020. Following their publication, CNSC adopted a compliance promotion approach with licensees to allow them time to update their radiation safety programs. That period has now ended and all licensees must now meet the new requirements.

The July 2022 issue of the Directorate of Nuclear Substance Regulation (DNSR) Digest highlighted some areas where CNSC inspectors continue to see non-compliance with the updated regulations. We thought this would be a good time to remind Bulletin readers of the regulation changes.

The recent amendments to CNSC’s Radiation Protection Regulations were meant to enhance radiation protection for workers, the public, and the environment based on international standards for radiation protection and CNSC regulatory operational experience. This article from CNSC’s Jessica Milligan-Taylor, a project officer with the Accelerators and Class II Facilities Division, outlines all of the changes and draws special attention to some changes of particular interest.

Last year, Erin Curry, the Canadian Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (CARST) regional director, explored the contribution of various indoor radon levels to annual effective dose in a two-part series in the Bulletin. In a new series that begins in this issue, she shifts her focus to radon in the workplace. She says, while we know general exposure to elevated levels of radon radiation is linked to increased risk of lung cancer, for radiation protection professionals, exposure to radon gas in the workplace may well be a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation’s (UNSCEAR) is the world authority on radiation science and the estimation of global levels and effects of ionizing radiation that serves as the scientific basis for evaluating radiation risk and for establishing protective measures. For the first time since before the pandemic, their annual session took place in person in Vienna, Austria from May 9 to 13, 2022. At the session, UNSCEAR elected a new bureau; endorsed a new strategy for data collection, analysis, and dissemination; and called for member states to participate in the evaluation of public exposure to ionizing radiation.