National Nuclear Regulator Act, 1999 (Act No. 47 of 1999)RegulationsRegulations in Terms of Section 36, Read with Section 47 of the National Nuclear Regulator Act, 1999 (Act No. 47 of 1999), on Safety Standards and Regulatory PracticesSection 4 : Requirements applicable to regulated actions |
Subject to 4.12, the following requirements apply to actions authorised by a nuclear installation licence, nuclear vessel licence or certificate of registration.
| 4.1 | Operational safety assessment |
| 4.1.1 | Operational safety assessments must be made and submitted to the Regulator at intervals specified in the nuclear authorisation and which must be commensurate with the nature of the operation and the radiation risks involved. |
| 4.1.2 | Operational safety assessments must be of sufficient scope and must be conducted and maintained in order to demonstrate continuing compliance with the dose, risk limits and other relevant conditions of the nuclear authorisation. |
| 4.1.3 | The operational safety assessment must establish the basis for all the operational safety-related programmes, limitations and design requirements. |
| 4.2 | Controls and limitations on operation |
| 4.2.1 | The holder of a nuclear authorisation is restricted to the actions within the specified site and within any limitations imposed in the authorisation. |
| 4.2.2 | Technical specifications must be established, implemented and maintained, where applicable, in terms of the safety assessment. Such operating technical specifications must provide a link between the safety assessment and the operation and must, as a minimum, include the following: |
| 4.2.2.1 | operating safety limitations as imposed by the design or by the safety criteria; |
| 4.2.2.2 | surveillance requirements to verify that equipment important to safety is operating satisfactorily or that parameters are within the safety limitations; and |
| 4.2.2.3 | limitations on the operation, in the event that equipment important to safety becomes inoperable or in the event that safety limitations are exceeded. |
| 4.2.3 | Radioactive waste acceptance criteria in respect of waste disposal or storage facilities must be established. |
| 4.2.4 | Operations must be conducted in accordance with formal procedures as required by the conditions of the nuclear authorisation. |
| 4.3 | Maintenance and inspection programme |
| 4.3.1 | An appropriate maintenance and inspection programme must be established. |
| 4.3.2 | The maintenance and inspection programme must be implemented to ensure that the reliability and integrity of installations, equipment and plant having an impact on radiation and nuclear safety are commensurate with the dose limits and risk limits in Annexures 2 and 3. |
| 4.4 | Staffing and qualification |
| 4.4.1 | An adequate number of competent, qualified and trained staff must be responsible for carrying out the functions associated with radiation protection and nuclear safety and for maintaining an appropriate safety culture. |
| 4.4.2 | The appropriate staff must be consulted on all decisions that may impact on radiation protection and nuclear safety. |
| 4.5 | Radiation protection |
| 4.5.1 | Optimisation of protection |
Measures commensurate with the magnitude and likelihood of exposure must be implemented to ensure that exposures associated with the authorised action are kept as low as reasonably achievable, economic and social factors being taken into account (ALARA).
| 4.5.2 | Dose constraints |
| 4.5.2.1 | Where applicable in terms of the prior safety assessment, the optimisation of radiation protection must be subject to dose constraints specific to the authorised action, which must not exceed values that can cause the relevant dose limits to be exceeded and which will ensure as far as practicable that doses are restricted by application of the ALARA principle on a source-specific basis rather than by dose limits. |
| 4.5.2.2 | For members of the public, the dose constraint applicable to the average member of the critical group within the exposed population is 0,25 mSv per year specific to the authorised action unless otherwise agreed by the Regulator on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the dose limit specified in Annexure 2 for exposure of members of the public from all sources. |
| 4.5.3 | Annual authorised discharge quantity |
The Regulator may, for the purposes of controlling radioactive discharges from a single authorised action, determine a source-specific annual authorised discharge quantity in the nuclear authorisation, which must take into account the dose constraint contemplated in section 4.5.2.2.
| 4.5.4 | Radiation dose limitation |
The normal operational exposure of individuals must be restricted to ensure that neither the effective dose nor the equivalent dose to relevant organs or tissues, caused by the possible combination of authorised actions, exceeds any relevant dose limit specified in Annexure 2. In order to comply with these regulations holders of nuclear authorisations must, as a precondition for engagement of occupationally exposed workers who are not their employees, obtain from the employers, including self employed individuals, the previous occupational exposure history of such workers.
| 4.5.5 | Medical Surveillance and Health Register |
| 4.5.5.1 | A comprehensive medical surveillance programme and health register must be established and maintained for all occupationally exposed workers in a form approved by the NNR. All entries in the health register must be made by an appointed medical practitioner or a person so authorised in writing. The holder must retain the register for a period of 40 years from the date of last entry. |
| 4.5.5.2 | An employee must have right of access to his medical records and health register at all times. |
| 4.5.5.3 | After consent has been obtained from the employee, the holder must provide the NNR with access to the employee's medical records and health register. The NNR may, with the consent of the employee, appoint an independent medical practitioner to assist in the conduct of a review of said records. |
| 4.5.6 | Dose register |
A dose register of every occupationally exposed worker must be established and maintained.
| 4.5 | Radioactive waste management |
| 4.6.1 | A radioactive waste management programme must be established, implemented and maintained in order to— |
| 4.6.1.1 | ensure waste generation control; |
| 4.6.1.2 | ensure the identification, quantification, characterisation and classification of any radioactive ware generated; |
| 4.6.1.3 | provide for the necessary treatment and other waste management steps leading to safe clearance, or authorised discharge, disposal, reuse or recycling; and |
| 4.6.1.4 | provide for the safe storage of radioactive waste between any waste management processes. |
| 4.6.2 | The safety of long-term radioactive waste storage options must be assured for the envisaged period of storage. |
| 4.6.3 | Radioactive material, radioactively contaminated material or radioactive waste may be removed from further compliance with the conditions of the nuclear authorisation if such material is transported to the site of any other authorised action or complies with the requirements for— |
| 4.6.3.1 | an authorised discharge; or |
| 4.6.3.2 | authorised recycling or authorised reuse; or |
| 4.6.3.3 | clearance; or |
| 4.6.3.4 | the material is transported directly to an authorised waste storage or disposal facility and complies with the applicable waste acceptance criteria. |
| 4.7 | Environmental monitoring and surveillance |
An appropriate environmental monitoring and surveillance programme must be established, implemented and maintained to verify that the storage, disposal or effluent discharge of radioactive waste complies with the conditions of the nuclear authorisation.
| 4.8 | Transport of radioactive material |
Transport of radioactive material or of any equipment or objects contaminated with radioactive material off the site or on roads which are accessible to the public must be carried out in terms of the provisions of the IAEA Regulations for The Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, in the revision specified in the nuclear authorisation.
| 4.9 | Physical security |
Physical security arrangements must be established, implemented and maintained in order to demonstrate that all necessary measures are taken to prevent, as far as is reasonable,unauthorised access to sites or diversion, theft or removal of radioactive material that does not meet the requirements for clearance in terms of section 2.5.
| 4.10 | Records and reports |
| 4.10.1 | A system of record keeping for all records specified in the nuclear authorisation must be established, implemented and maintained. |
| 4.10.2 | Operational reports must be submitted to the Regulator at predetermined periods as specified in the nuclear authorisation and must contain such information as the Regulator may require on the basis of the safety assessments. |
| 4.10.3 | A reporting mechanism must be established, implemented and maintained for nuclear incidents and nuclear accidents or any other events that the Regulator may specify in the authorisation. |
| 4.11 | Monitoring of workers |
| 4.11.1 | In workplaces where workers are liable to receive doses exceeding three tenths of the applicable dose limits in section 1.1.1 of Annexure 2, as identified by the prior safety assessment and confirmed by subsequent operational safety assessments, individual monitoring of workers must be undertaken where appropriate, adequate and feasible. |
| 4.11.2 | For workers in the workplaces contemplated in section 4.11.1 for whom individual monitoring is inappropriate, inadequate or not feasible, the occupational exposure of such workers must be assessed from the results of workplace monitoring and information on the locations and durations of the workers. |
| 4.11.3 | In workplaces where occupationally exposed workers are unlikely to receive doses exceeding three tenths of the applicable dose limits in section 1.1.1 of Annexure 2, workplace monitoring must be implemented to keep under review the workplace exposure conditions, in order to maintain an awareness of any significant changes in conditions and to enable doses to be assigned to occupationally exposed workers on the basis of general workplace exposure conditions. |
| 4.12 | Application to radon exposure |
For actions where the prior safety assessment contemplated in section 3.3, or the subsequent workplace monitoring contemplated in section 4.11.3, demonstrates that the occupational exposure to radon does not exceed an action level of 6 mSv/a, the requirements of section 4 applicable to occupational exposure to radon shall be limited to those of sections 4.4, 4.5.5, 4.5.6, 4.10 and 4.11.3.