The primary legislation governing safety in the uses of ionising radiation in Ireland is the Radiological Protection Act, 1991 (as amended). This Act provided the legal basis for radiation protection in Ireland and established the EPA as the national regulator.
The European Union’s Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive establishes binding legal requirements governing the use of ionising radiation across all EU Member States. In Ireland this is implemented through two Statutory Instruments:
Other relevant legislation includes:
This statutory instrument deals with the shipment of radioactive waste and gives effect in Ireland to Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom.
Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Act, 1998 (Number 43 of 1998)
This legislation lays down conditions governing the transportation of radioactive (and other hazardous) material by road, including packaging, labelling and the suitability of vehicles involved in such activity. This Act puts into effect the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR).
These Regulations apply to the carriage, in tanks, in bulk and in packages, of dangerous goods by road, including the packing, loading, filling and unloading of the dangerous goods in relation to their carriage. They apply the provisions of Annexes A and B to the “European Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR)”. The Regulations are amended every two years to give affect to the ADR and are available on the Health and Safety Authority website.
Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1493/93 on shipments of radioactive substances between Member States
This regulation sets out the procedure to be followed when shipping sealed sources to other member states of the European Union.
The purpose of these Regulations is to transpose Commission Directive 2014/103/EU, in so far as it relates to transport of dangerous goods by rail, into national law through amendment of the European Communities (Transport of Dangerous Goods by Rail) Regulations 2010 (as amended by S.I. No. 201 of 2013). In addition, the 2010 Regulations are updated including an amendment to show that the Environmental Protection Agency is the competent authority for the purposes of Regulation 4(1)(c).