The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has made amendments to the 2018 Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Regulations.
Chief Regulatory Officer at ARPANSA, Jim Scott said the Regulations applied to all Commonwealth regulated entities, including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Department of Defence as well as others.
“The latest set of amendments include simplified application fees, updated requirements and clearer definitions,” Mr Scott said.
“These will help our licence holders fulfil their obligations and will continue to support our vision of a safe radiation environment for the Australian community,” he said.
Mr Scott said the amendments, which came into effect on 6 March, simplified source licence application fees by removing the calculation based on the number of sources.
The Chief Regulatory Officer said the amendments also introduced cost-recovered application fees for complex facilities, including an hourly rate, to reflect the true cost of assessment.
He said the definition of non-ionising radiation-controlled apparatus had been revised to capture a broader range of apparatus.
Mr Scott said Section 44 of the Safety Regulations had been amended to exempt certain lasers, optical fibre systems and klystrons from licensing requirements where they posed a very low radiation risk.
He said Section 58 had also been amended to require licence holders to proactively review and update their plans and arrangements for managing safety following a previous incident.
