The IAEA has launched a new ISEMIR database specifically for workers in industrial processes involving Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM), called ISEMIR-N.
Globally, there are more than 24 million workers in industries such as mining, oil and gas production, mineral sands, water treatment, metal refining and recycling, phosphate production and geothermal energy who are monitored to ensure their safety when exposed to radiation. Norms.
“NORM are any naturally occurring materials that do not contain significant amounts of radionuclides other than those of natural origin such as uranium-238 (U-238), thorium-232 (Th-232) and potassium-40 (K-40),” said Magizin, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Occupational Radiation Protection, adding, “While most industrial processes involving NORM do not require radiation monitoring, certain work activities may result in increased exposures that need to be controlled through strong regulation and monitoring.” ”
What’s new?
ISEMIR serves as an information system that allows radiation protection workers in medicine, industry and research to provide information to the IAEA and other interested stakeholders registered in ISEMIR on the types of sources and exposures to which their workers will be subjected, what forms of radiation monitoring their workers are exposed to, and how their workers are exposed. The system provides feedback to users on performance relative to industry benchmarks to ensure radiation safety.
Currently, ISEMIR has two main branches: ISEMIR-IC and ISEMIR-IR, for interventional cardiology and industrial radiology workers, respectively. Each branch involves collecting information related to workers’ occupational radiation exposure. For each tool in ISEMIR, industry-level benchmarks can be developed to determine safety standards used in areas such as exposure types, monitoring methods and effective dose levels in occupational radiation protection.
“We hope that ISEMIR-N will enhance the ability to conduct assessments of occupational exposures and provide a benchmark for operators in the NORM industry worldwide to develop their own radiation protection programs,” said Ma. “The IAEA-ISEMIR online platform will help meet the needs of operators, assess, develop and further enhance overall industry trends in occupational radiation protection, and improve communication between NORM industry operators and the IAEA.” ”
Irena Petrova, Radiation Protection Inspector at the Czech Republic’s State Nuclear Safety Office, stressed: “After my previous experience working with ISEMIR-IR on industrial radiography, I am very happy to see it extended to industries involved in NORM. I hope that this will provide the same benefits that I have seen with ISEMIR-IR in assessing our local radiation protection programmes relative to the global community.”
Ideally, the information collected through ISEMIR-N will enable the IAEA and stakeholders to draw overall conclusions about different operators through the exchange, recording and analysis of occupational exposure data and to better improve the radiation protection infrastructure of industry operators involved in NORM.
