Radiation safety experts worldwide are invited to take part in sharing practical experience of implementing the IAEA safety standards to protect workers, patients, the public and the environment from natural and artificial radiation sources, at a fully virtual IAEA conference from 9 to 20 November.
More than 600 regulators, researchers, operators and radiation protection practitioners have already registered for the International Conference on Radiation Safety: Improving Radiation Protection in Practice.
“While the COVID-19 outbreak has put face-to-face meetings on hold and introduced a new way of working and networking for all of us, radiation safety is not on hold,” said Juan Carlos Lentijo, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. “We continue providing support to our Member States in implementing the current system of radiological protection based on the IAEA’s safety requirements document.”
The virtual conference has been extended from a one week period to two weeks. The new timeframe, with later morning and earlier afternoon sessions in Central European Time, aims to accommodate broader participation from other time zones, giving everyone an opportunity to contribute and identify key challenges and solutions in radiation protection.
The conference will include expert-led round table discussions on the latest developments in the field, including lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to radiation protection, and technical sessions where selected participants will present their work on topics, ranging from applying the principle of justification to safety culture.
“The virtual format represents several technical and organizational challenges, but it also offers many opportunities to reach a wider audience from all countries, and we are also able to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint caused by international travel,” said Tony Colgan, Head of the IAEA Radiation Protection Unit and Technical Officer for the conference.
The decision for a fully virtual conference was agreed with seven international organizations cooperating in the organization of the Conference − the European Commission (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (NEA-OECD), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). All of these organizations co-sponsor the IAEA’s safety requirements document, Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards (BSS), used in many countries as the basis for national legislation in radiation protection.
