ASN contributes to international sharing of radiation protection experience

The 13th congress of the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) took place in Glasgow (Scotland) from 13 to 18 May 2012. The event brought together 700 specialists (including radiation protection professionals, radiation protection companies, health agencies and radiation safety authorities). The ASN was present and mobilized on the two major themes of the congress: stakeholder engagement and post-accident management. The ASN:

• reviewed the medical issues relating to individual radiosensitivity;
• called for European regulations on X-ray generators used in industry, research and veterinary practice, and for a common European approach to radiation protection concerning body scanners and light bulbs containing small amounts of radioactivity;
• illustrated the contribution made by analysis of significant events in radiotherapy and in industrial radiography;
• presented the measures it has introduced to promote sharing and adoption of good practices worldwide, in particular with regard to:
  • an integrated and compulsory quality management system in radiotherapy;
  • national plans for drinking water radiological quality monitoring, management of the radon risk, and decommissioning of radioactive fire detectors and lightning rods.

Michel Bourguignon, ASN commissioner, chaired two sessions: one, alongside the IAEA^[1], the WHO^[2] and the PAHO^[3], on global health care perspectives, the other on regulation. Michel Bourguignon was also rapporteur of a session on radiation protection issues in radiotherapy, and co-chaired a symposium on research on medical countermeasures against serious radiation exposure.

The ASN presented the policy points and lessons learned from the work of the French post-accident management steering committee (CODIRPA) undertaken in France since 2011 to provide input for international discussion on the consequences of Fukushima, in two talks:

• "A new strategy for the delimitation of the post-accidental zoning after a nuclear accident", by Jean-Luc Godet, ASN director for ionizing radiations and health;
• "Conditions and means of developing a radiation protection practical culture within the population in post-accident situations", by Florence Gallay, project manager at the ASN.

.

The ASN presented 14 posters to promote its principal projects and good practices in six of the ten areas covered in the poster sessions of the 13th IRPA congress

[1] International Atomic Energy Agency
[2] World Health Organization
[3] Pan American Health Organization