Speaker
Description
The Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Argentina (ARN), through the ‘Class I Particle Accelerators Control Department’, develops the regulatory tasks associated to the radiation protection of Class I Accelerator facilities. The group of facilities under control includes from R&D linear accelerator facilities to radiopharmaceutical production facilities with cyclotron. Furthermore, the Department is part of the ‘Licensing Project of the Argentine Center of Proton Therapy’ that has been formed ad hoc to face this challenging regulatory endeavor.
Due to the radiological risk and technological complexity, the regulatory framework established by the ARN determines four stages for the authorization process of a Class I facility: construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning. Regulatory processes are implemented applying a graded approach and considering the particularities of each stage of the life of a facility. Safety requirements are verified through documentation review and safety assessments, as well as regulatory inspections that are carried out for all the operating conditions throughout the entire country.
Another relevant aspect is the authorization of the personnel of the facilities, which is addressed by the assessment of the training programs and the accreditation of the qualification, among others.
The paper summarizes the activities conducted by the ARN during the Class I Accelerator facilities licensing and inspection processes, describes the regulatory approach adopted and the implemented steps to strengthen its capacities; highlighting the importance and role of the regulatory process in guaranteeing the safety operation of these facilities. Finally, the milestones achieved so far, the lessons learned and future plans are presented in the paper.
