Radiological Safety

Radiological Safety

As one of the departments established in pursuance of Section 9 (1) of the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act 19, 1995 (Act), the Radiological Safety Department (RSD) has responsibilities related to ensuring regulatory control of radiation facilities and activities and other regulatory duties relevant to enabling the NNRA effectively and efficiently perform its core regulatory functions in pursuance of the Act with the overall objectives of protecting the people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation and in enabling Nigeria meet its international and national obligations in this regards.  

 

The RSD is specifically tasked with the responsibilities of ensuring that facilities and activities involved in use or application of radioactive substances or ionizing radiation generators, or associated with exposure to ionizing  radiation operate or conduct their activities within the provision of the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act No.19 of 1995 (the Act) through enforcement of compliance with Nigeria Basic Ionizing Radiation Regulations (NiBIRR), relevant regulations established by the NNRA and internationally recognized standards to ensure, without limiting the beneficial uses of ionizing radiation, protection of workers, public and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation and to complement the obligations of the NNRA with regards to enabling Nigeria meet its national and international obligations on Radiation Safety Standards. The RSD achieves these mandates through implementing the under-listed regulatory activities in accordance with the NNRA Regulatory Control Programme (RCP).

The RSD is responsible for:

1. Development and maintenance of Regulations and Safety Guides relevant to radiation safety and protection, radioactive waste safety and safety in the transport of radioactive materials
2. Regulatory oversight of facilities and activities associated with exposure to ionizing radiation to ensure compliance with established regulations, relevant national and international safety standards, terms and conditions of issued authorization
3. Review and assessment of technical reports, including inspection reports, environment radiological data, radiological impact assessment reports, personnel dose monitoring records, workplace radiation monitoring records, environmental dose assessment reports, etc.
4. Radiological assessments and radiation surveys
5. Regulatory control of technical services providers
6. Undertake investigations and research into ionizing radiation sources and practices
7. Liaise with and foster co-operation with international and other organizations or bodies concerned having similar or related objectives or mandates
8. Pilot Survey and identification of practices associated with ionizing radiation
9. Any other role assigned by the Director General/CEO

Structure of the Department

The RSD is structured into five (5) Divisions and have a supervisory role over the Six (6) zonal and Four (4) Operational offices strategically positioned to enable the Department meet its mandates. The five (5) divisions under the RSD as established in the new NNRA organizational structure released in 2023 are Industrial Application Safety Division (IASD), Waste Safety Division (WSD), Transport Safety Division (TSD), Public Exposure and Environmental Safety Division (PEESD) and Mining & Radiation Protection Services (MRPSD)

The mandates and activities of the Divisions are as follows:

A. Industrial Application Safety Division (IASD)

The IASD is responsible for ensuring that practices such as well logging, industrial radiography, industrial irradiators, nuclear and x-ray gauges in manufacturing, security, etc comply with the Act and relevant regulations. The division is divided into four units namely; Industrial Radiography, Nuclear Well Logging, Gamma Irradiation, Nuclear Gauging and Baggage & Security scanners units. The activities of the Division include:

• Regulatory inspection of industrial radiography facilities, nuclear well logging facilities, gamma irradiation facility, facilities using nuclear gauges, organizations using security and baggage scanners incorporating ionizing radiation source
• Development and review of relevant regulations and safety guides
• Review and Assessment of documents and reports from operators and inspection of the facilities and activities under this division

B. Waste Safety Division (WSD)

The WSD is responsible for ensuring that the management of all types of radioactive waste and natural occurring radioactive materials (NORM) residues or waste complies with the requirements of the Act, NiBIRR, Nigerian Radioactive Waste management Regulations, Nigerian Radiation Safety in NORM Management Regulations and other relevant national and international safety standards. Four units were proposed for this division, including DSRS and other associated waste unit, NORM residue safety unit, Radioactive Waste Inventory Unit and Spent Fuel Management Unit. The responsibilities of the division include:

• Development and review of regulations and safety guides for the management of all types of radioactive waste, spent fuel and NORM residue
• Ensuring compliance with the regulatory requirements and conditions of license in relation to management of all types of radioactive waste, spent fuel and NORM residues
• Regulatory oversight of Radioactive Waste, orphan and legacy sources management or storage facilities.
• Establishing and maintaining national radioactive waste registry
• Review and Assessment of documents and safety reports from operators and inspection of the facilities and activities under this division
• Provides support and acts as point of contact for the Joint Convention on Safety of Spent Fuel Management and Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
• Stakeholders engagement in meetings and workshops in promotion of safe management of all types of radioactive waste

C. Public Exposure and Environmental Safety Division (PEESD)

The Public Exposure and Environmental Safety (PEES) Division is tasked with the mandate of ensuring strict compliance with the Nigerian Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act 1995, Nigerian Basic Ionizing Radiation Regulations, IAEA General Safety Requirements Part 3 and other relevant regulations as regards the management of ionizing Radiation emitting equipment, radioactive materials and activities contributing to radiation exposure situations in the environment, with the purpose of protecting the public and the environment from hazards of ionizing radiation. It also helps Nigeria meet its international obligation concerning sources of ionizing radiation in work places and in the environment.

The PEES is responsible for overseeing the following Divisions to ensure that they comply with regulatory requirements in line with the Act, relevant regulations and international standards. The divisions divided into units;

1. Technical Services Providers

     a. Review and assessment of Radiation Safety Adviser and Consultancy Services applications

            b. Review and assessment of Dosimetry Services Providers

            c. Review and assessment of Sales, Supplies and Maintenance services

 

        ii.     Environmental Safety

          a.   Baseline measurement and Establishment

          b.   Independent verification of environmental radiological Assessment for Facilities and Activities – NORM monitoring reporting from mining fields, oil prospecting fields, Reactor facilities, steel / fertilizer facilities etc

       c. Review and assessment of radiological environmental monitoring report submission from operators

           d.  Radon in workplace

           e.  Spatial Presentation of Radiological Data on GIS

           f.   Panel Review on Radiological Aspects of EIA reports with the FMoE

 

       iii.  Public/ Occupational Exposures

           a.  Radon at homes / Indoors

           b.  Dose Measurement for air crew members

           c.   Environmental radiological investigations from radiation exposures reports from communities

           d.   Radionuclide in water and consumers products or commodities

           e.   Occupational Dose Monitoring and Reporting for NNRA staff

 

        iv.    Radiation Protection Laboratory (RPL)

           a.  Investigative analysis of environmental samples for regulatory purposes

           b.  Temporal backup dose monitoring for DSPs

 

D. Transport Safety Division (TSD)

The TSD carries out all necessary duties to ensure that land, marine and air transport of radioactive materials are in compliance with the Act, NiBIRR, Nigerian Transport of radioactive sources regulations, relevant regulations established by the NNRA and other internationally recognized safety standards. The Division is structured into three units including land transport, marine transport and air transport units. The activities of the Division include:

• Development and review of regulations and safety guides for transport of radioactive materials in Nigeria
• Inspection of shipment or movement of radioactive packages
• Review and Assessment of documents and safety reports relating to transport of radioactive materials
• Advocacy or promotion of safe transport of radioactive material through stakeholders engagements in meetings and workshops

E. Mining & Radiation Protection Services (MRPSD)