Legislation and other Regulations Related to Radiological Protection

Abstract

The legislation and regulations dealing with radiological protection vary quite considerably from one country to another, and are often intimately linked with other legislation, dealing, for instance, with the control of nuclear energy etc. It is not possible, therefore, to give an account of all the relevant national regulations in this book and readers who require further information on the regulatory position in a particular country should consult the bibliography. There are, however, a number of similarities in the radiological protection legislation of many countries which may best be illustrated by considering a specific example. We have chosen to discuss UK legislation in detail to illustrate how the legislation has developed to cope with different aspects of the control of hazards to workers and the public from ionizing radiations. Later sections of the Chapter outline the role of international organizations in setting rules and guidelines concerning radiological protection. Finally, a very brief account is given of the more important aspects of the regulatory position in France, Germany, Japan and the USA.