Radiation Safety

Welcome

This website provides a first point of contact for infomation on radiation safety for staff and students at University of Galway. In using ionising radiation in our research and teaching on campus, we wish to maximise the net benefit in using radioactive materials or radiation producing instrumentation whilst protecting all staff, students, the public and the environment. 

Applications of ionising radiation using either X-rays or radionuclides are an essential part of research and teaching. Any use of ionising radiation, however, carries intrinsic risks and hence its use is regulated to ensure the safety of people. Irish legislation on the safe use of ionising radiation is based on the European Union Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive (Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM):

• This Directive has been transposed into Irish law through the Ionising Radiation Regulations of 2019 (S.I. No. 30 of 2019), hereafter referred to as IRR19.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the competent authority for IRR19.

All ionising radiation use is subject to IRR19.  The University of Galway is authorised by the EPA to use specific ionising radiation sources in specific practices under licence L0001-04. 

IRR19 sets out the system of regulatory control covering the use of ionising radiation in Ireland. This system is based on the follow principles:

• Any use of ionising radiation liable to result in exposure of people shall be justified.
• Arrangements to protect people from the harmful effects of radiation shall be optimised with the aim of keeping doses as low as reasonably achievable, taking into account the current state of technical knowledge and economic and societal factors.
• Doses to people shall be kept below the statutory dose limits.
• All justified uses of ionising radiation are subject to regulatory control by the EPA. Regulatory control is intended to ensure that the risks associated with a radiological practice are effectively managed on an ongoing basis

 Regulatory control, depicted in the figure (copyright EPA), is intended to ensure that the risks associated with a radiological practice are effectively managed on an ongoing basis.‌‌

 For any queries or information , contact the University's Radiation Protection Officer Dr. Oliver Ryan, and/or the Deputy RPO Prof. Heinz-Peter Nasheuer via

• this shared email address: RPO@universityofgalway.ie
• Dr. Oliver Ryan, telephone 091 494155 (from off-campus) or 4155 (internal extension number)
• Prof. Heinz-Peter Nasheuer, telephone 091 492430 (from off-campus) or 2430 (internal extension number)

All purchases, uses, storage, transport, disposal of any radioactive material or radiation producing device (regardless of its activity or intended use, whether it's sealed/unsealed or contained within a greater instrument/device),  must be pre-approved by the RPO.  All prospective users of ionising radiation must in the first instance contact the RPO to arrange training.

For training you will first be enrolled in Canvas module AH0145 Radiation Awareness and Safety Training which is a module for mandatory initial and refresher training in the safe use of ionising radiation in teaching and/or research for University of Galway staff and students who use or are expected to use ionising radiation.  There you watch training videos and take an MCQ exam.  Practical onsite training for your area of work will be given by the local RPS once the MCQ is done.

Please use the link below to navigate to internal pages site but note that they are accessible only from on-campus networked PCs; for off-campus access, please contact the RPO.

See also the Health and Safety site for other information: Health & Safety Office