Council Directive 2013/59/EuratomShow full title

SECTION 1 Protection of members of the public and long-term health protection in normal circumstances

Article 65 Operational protection of members of the public

1. Member States shall ensure that the operational protection of members of the public in normal circumstances from practices subject to licensing shall include, for relevant facilities, the following:

(a) examination and approval of the proposed siting of the facility from a radiation protection point of view, taking into account relevant demographic, meteorological, geological, hydrological and ecological conditions;

(b) acceptance into service of the facility subject to adequate protection being provided against any exposure or radioactive contamination liable to extend beyond the perimeter of the facility or radioactive contamination liable to extend to the ground beneath the facility;

(c) examination and approval of plans for the discharge of radioactive effluents;

(d) measures to control the access of members of the public to the facility.

2. The competent authority shall where appropriate establish authorised limits as part of the discharge authorisation and conditions for discharging radioactive effluents which shall:

(a) take into account the results of the optimisation of radiation protection;

(b) reflect good practice in the operation of similar facilities.

In addition, these discharge authorisations shall take into account, where appropriate, the results of a generic screening assessment based on internationally recognised scientific guidance, where such an assessment has been required by the Member State, to demonstrate that environmental criteria for long-term human health protection are met.

3. For practices subject to registration, Member States shall ensure the protection of members of the public in normal circumstances through appropriate national regulations and guidance.

Article 66 Estimation of doses to the members of the public

1. Member States shall ensure that arrangements are made for the estimation of doses to members of the public from authorised practices. The extent of such arrangements shall be proportionate to the exposure risk involved.

2. Member States shall ensure the identification of practices for which an assessment of doses to members of the public shall be carried out. Member States shall specify those practices for which this assessment needs to be carried out in a realistic way and those for which a screening assessment is sufficient.

3. For the realistic assessment of doses to the members of the public, the competent authority shall:

(a) decide on a reasonable extent of surveys to be conducted and information to be taken into account in order to identify the representative person, taking into account the effective pathways for transmission of the radioactive substances;

(b) decide on a reasonable frequency of monitoring of the relevant parameters as determined in point (a);

(c) ensure that the estimates of doses to the representative person include:

i)

assessment of the doses due to external radiation, indicating, where appropriate, the type of the radiation in question;

ii)

assessment of the intake of radionuclides, indicating the nature of the radionuclides and, where necessary, their physical and chemical states, and determination of the activity concentrations of these radionuclides in food and drinking water or other relevant environmental media;

iii)

assessment of the doses that the representative person, as identified in point (a), is liable to receive;

(d) require records to be kept and be made available on request to all stakeholders relating to measurements of external exposure and contamination, estimates of intakes of radionuclides, and the results of the assessment of the doses received by the representative person.

Article 67 Monitoring of radioactive discharges

1. Member States shall require the undertaking responsible for practices where a discharge authorisation is granted to monitor appropriately or where appropriate evaluate the radioactive airborne or liquid discharges into the environment in normal operation and to report the results to the competent authority.

2. Member States shall require any undertaking responsible for a nuclear power reactor or reprocessing plant to monitor radioactive discharges and report them in accordance with standardised information.

Article 68 Tasks for the undertaking

Member States shall require the undertaking to carry out the following tasks:

(a)

achieve and maintain an optimal level of protection of members of the public;

(b)

accept into service adequate equipment and procedures for measuring and assessing exposure of members of the public and radioactive contamination of the environment;

(c)

check the effectiveness and maintenance of equipment as referred to in point (b) and ensure the regular calibration of measuring instruments;

(d)

seek advice from a radiation protection expert in the performance of the tasks referred to in points (a), (b) and (c).