Radiation Protection

Under Irish legislation (Radiological Protection Act 1991 (Ionising Radiation) Regulations 2019 (IRR19) (S.I. No 30 of 2019)), every organisation involved in storing, using, transporting, or disposing of radioactive materials, irradiation apparatus or other sources of ionising radiation, must hold an appropriate licence. To this end, University College Dublin is licenced by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Radiological Protection, in accordance with statutory requirements.

Licensing Requirements

In accordance with legislative requirements, the University has an appointed (opens in a new window)Radiological Protection Officer (RPO), whose duties include advising the university on all matters relating to radiological protection and liaising with the competent authorities for radiation protection.

In addition, each school undertaking work with ionising radiation sources, has an appointed radiation protection supervisor to supervise radiation protection in their school and to liaise with the RPO on matters of radiation protection.

The University’s licence details all locations where ionising radiation sources are used, quantity limits, and all other conditions of their use, storage, and disposal. It is, therefore, a requirement that every School compiles, at the end of each year, a complete list of all radioactive substances which have entered or left the School since the previous report, and this must be sent to the university’s RPO.

Registering work with Ionising Radiation Sources

Registration is required for work involving possible exposure to ionising radiation from any of the following:

(i) sealed or unsealed radioactive substances

(ii) equipment producing useful beams of x-rays (e.g., for X-ray crystallography);

(iii) standard laboratory equipment (e.g., high-voltage units, cathode-ray oscilloscopes) operating at potentials exceeding 30 kV;

(iv) experimental apparatus producing non-useful X-rays (e.g., electron microscopes, image converters) operating at potentials above 5 kV.

Training

Ionising Radiation Safety training is provided by the university’s RPO approximately twice per year focusing on the nature of radiation and the measures needed to assess the risks and guard against them in the workplace. Further details on the course contents and to complete an expression of interest form, see UCD SIRC Office Training.

For further information and advice on radiation protection contact the RPO by emailing (opens in a new window)radiationsafety@ucd.ie.