The Asia Regional ALARA Network (ARAN)

What is ARAN?

The Asia Region ALARA Network (ARAN) was formed in Daejeon, Republic of Korea in December 2007.  The main objectives of the ARAN are to:

1. Support the development of a sustainable regional network, which facilitates information, findings and data exchange and practical and cost effective implementation of the principle of optimisation of radiation protection in participating countries.
2. Maintain, enhance and develop competence and skills in radiation protection, with special emphasis on the implementation of the ALARA principle for occupational exposures in routine operations.
3. Contribute to the harmonisation of objectives, standards and practices, particularly concerning ALARA, within participating countries.
4. Contribute to the effective use, exchange and integration of skills and expertise across Member States.

The activities of the network are intended to cover:

1. All types of civilian practices within the different sectors: nuclear, industrial, medical, research, and work with naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), technically enhanced NORM (TENORM) and scrap material.
2. The radiation protection themes relevant to the above sectors, as well as themes specific to one or more sector(s).

ARAN 2009 Workshop
Improving Radiation Protection in NORM Industries, China

The Second ARAN Workshop will be on Improving Radiation Protection in NORM Industries and will be held in China from 12 to 16 October 2009.

ARPS Members are asked to suggest ideas for:

• Topics and issues to be discussed at the Workshop

• Appropriate participants

Suggestions can be posted and discussed using the ARPS web site. Please let me know if you have any questions.

ARAN 2008 Workshop
NDT, Japan 2008

The first activity of ARAN was its First Workshop on the theme “Improving Radiation Protection in Industrial Radiography” held in Chiba, Japan, in November 2008.  32 participants and experts attended the Workshop, which was highly successful and a good learning process for what can be achieved in future Workshops.

The meeting was structured in several sessions with presentations from experts and country presentations. The sessions covered topics such as Accidents/Incidents in industrial radiography and lessons learned, Regulatory requirements for radiation protection in industrial radiography, Techniques and equipment used in industrial radiography and new developments, Occupational exposure trends in industrial radiography, and Training programs in industrial radiography to improve radiation protection. The participants discussed specific issues in industrial radiography practice in working groups. This was a very useful part of the meeting.

The general conclusion was that the meeting was a good opportunity for participants to bench mark the radiation protection status in industrial radiography practice. ARAN was welcomed as a good project which should have happened a long time ago. It was concluded that there is a need for improving the safety culture in the industrial radiography sector in different ways; harmonising training or sensitisation at the regional and national level, organising dialogue between the concerned stakeholders, improving inspections and favouring feedback exchanges.

The Workshop participants developed a set of recommendations on improving radiation protection in industrial radiography in the region.  These recommendations will be disseminated via the ARAN web site, but are in summary:

Recommendation 1:  An Industry Code of Conduct.

Recommendation 2:   IAEA should develop safety training courses for industrial radiographers.

Recommendation 3:  ARAN surveys training across the region, sets up a working group to analyse it, and recommends best practices in NDT training.

Recommendation 4:  Regulatory bodies increase the frequency of unannounced inspections and have a system of notification by NDT companies to facilitate this.

Recommendation 5:  National regulatory bodies to improve the dialogue with NDT companies through working groups, seminars.

Recommendation 6:  Regional collation of incident data.

Recommendation 7:  Relating to certification of sources.

Recommendation 8:  Companies to reinforce the periodic assessment of equipment performance.

Recommendation 9:  Dose distribution to be available across the region (not just from UNSCEAR).

Also in Chiba, an ARAN Steering Committee Meeting was held.  This meeting discussed:

• the future activities of ARAN;
• actions arising from the first ARAN Workshop;
• the Public Face of ARAN; and,
• future funding of ARAN. 

A public web site concept was also discussed which would incorporate Google visibility and a search capability so as to disseminate ARAN information as widely as possible.

The meeting considered that ARAN self-funding mechanisms might be achieved through a combination of Industry funding, Professional Association funding and Government funding and it was agreed that all these mechanisms should be explored in the immediate future. 

Information will be provided on the ARPS web site as it becomes available