Radiation Protection Today - Spring 2022 | Page 15

New : SRP ' s Source Managers Network

The inaugural meeting was held in March and the objectives are :
• to establish a network of those involved in source management from large industrial organisations to small educational establishments
• to understand and influence national requirements and regulations
• to learn and improve processes from each other and to spread best practice
Particular areas of interest currently include :
• For new sources the complete life cycle must be identified on purchase , including financial provision for safe disposal . This was not always the case , however , and there remain issues in identifying and managing sources that are not fully accounted for and rediscovered . To remedy this issue , some time ago an ' Orphaned Source ' campaign was organised by the Environment Agency in which there was an amnesty for old sources , outside their lifetimes and / or
Radiation Protection Today Summer 2022 without proper identification , such that the costs of disposal were waived . Despite this concerted campaign , there remain occasions when sources are discovered , and for which their specifications are lost in history
• Discussions following the recommendation of the IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service ( IRRS ) Mission in 2019 that there should be a national register of sources . The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is looking to establish such a register quantifying the number of sources and planning for their disposal
• Issues regarding very low activity sources imported into the UK from countries with different regulatory regimes where they are below the exemption threshold , and have therefore not been marked as sources in accordance with UK regulations
For further information about SRP ' s Source
15 Managers Network please email admin @ srp-uk . org
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