Models are essential tools in evaluating radiological impacts within the safety assessment process and regulatory control of facilities as well as of activities in planned exposure situations, existing exposure situations and emergency exposure situations. Modelling the transfer of radionuclides in the environment and assessing the resulting radiation exposure of people and the environment is n…
Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon and natural sources of radiation are features of the environment. Radiation and radioactive substances have many beneficial applications, ranging from power generation to uses in medicine, industry and agriculture. The radiation risks to workers and the public and to the environment that may arise from these applications have to be assessed and, if necessar…
In response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, the IAEA developed the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety. One of the objectives of the plan was to ensure that, following a nuclear emergency, people and the environment are protected from ionizing radiation. One of the activities undertaken to address this objective was the International Project on Mana…
The objective of this publication is to provide specific guidance for accident analysis for nuclear power plants with pressurized water reactors, taking into account the specific design features of these reactors. This guidance covers all steps required to perform such analyses, including selection of initiating events, acceptance criteria, computer codes, modelling assumptions, preparation of …
On 17 June 1997 a physicist working as a senior technician at the Nuclear Centre, Sarov, in the Russian Federation, was severely exposed as a result of a criticality accident with an assembly of highly enriched uranium. The exposure, which caused a high neutron radiation dose, led to death within three days despite prompt medical attention. This is the first report that the IAEA has published o…
This publication states the fundamental safety objective and ten associated safety principles, and briefly describes their intent and purpose. The fundamental safety objective — to protect people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation — applies to all circumstances that give rise to radiation risks. The safety principles are applicable, as relevant, throughout the en…
public authorities and others who are responsible for preparing emergency plans for the handling of radiation accidents with the aim of minimizing the resulting exposure of workers and of m embers of the public, and of reducing as far as , practicable any damage to property. This guidance m ust necessarily be of a general nature as it is not possible to predict with any precision the form which…
This Safety Report contains the findings of extensive research in terms of the lessons that can be learned from accidents which have occurred in industrial radiography, both in developed and developing countries. The review was carried out by a team of regulatory authorities, manufacturers and safety advisers. The objectives were to draw lessons from the initiating events of the accidents, the …
Proceedings of a symposium jointly organized with FAO, UNEP and WHO, Vienna, 16–20 October 1989. Scientific research on the after-effects of the Chernobyl accident on the environment and on human health has provided new data pertaining to large scale contamination. Papers at the symposium covered a wide range of subjects, including monitoring of radioactive contaminants in the environment, le…
n 17 November 1992 a radiological accident occurred at an electron accelerator facility in Hanoi, Viet Nam. An individual entered the irradiation room without the operators' knowledge and unwittingly exposed his hands to the X ray beam. His hands were seriously injured and one hand had to be amputated. The report details the circumstances of the accident, its medical consequences and the govern…