SRP is proud to be one of the organisa ons from across the UK and Commonwealth featuring in the Official Pla num Jubilee Pageant Commemora ve Album .

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The UK Health Security Agency - The first 52 years advertorial

Much has happened in the sphere of radiation protection since Queen Elizabeth II assumed the Crown of the United Kingdom back in 1952 .

A small organisation called the Radiological Protection Service ( RPS ) was established in 1953 by the Medical Research Council ( MRC ), although it offered limited advice only and not the comprehensive protection service for those working with radiation that we would expect today . So , with The Cold War already well established by then , the concept of nuclear safety , whilst important , was arguably not viewed with the seriousness and rigour that it is today .

It took a serious accident at the Windscale nuclear facility in Cumbria in October 1957 for politicians , industrialists , academics and the public to really grasp the idea that radiation protection is an important part of the structure of a nuclear industry . Politicians and academics of the day put forward ideas that eventually led to the Radiological Protection Bill , which was first tabled in the House of Lords in October 1969 and passed onto the statute books in October 1970 .

This , then , was the start of the National Radiological Protection Board ( NRPB ) whose role , in 1974 , was extended to cover non-ionising radiation too , as well as ionising radiation that had been its sole remit up to that point . Since those early years , the NRPB subsequently became part of the Health Protection Agency ( in 2004 ), then Public Health England ( in 2014 ), before transitioning to the UK Health Security Agency ( UKHSA ) in October 2021 .

To this day , UKHSA ' s Personal Dosimetry Service remains the UK ' s largest single provider of dosemeters and associated services to those working with ionising radiation , issuing over 500,000 dosemeters per year to some 5,500 organisations both in the UK and abroad . Of interest is that PDS has recently been awarded ISO 17025 certification by the UK Accreditation Service , having had its Lab ' s methods , processes , and results audited fully in July 2021 .

PDS looks forward to the next 50 + years and is happy and proud to have played its part in keeping so many UK and foreign workers safe .

Radiation Protection Today Summer 2022 9