Directive 1959/221 - Directives laying down the basic standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiations - Main contents

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Directives laying down the basic standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiations

Official Journal 011 , 20/02/1959 P. 0221 - 0239

Finnish special edition: Chapter 15 Volume 1 P. 0003

Swedish special edition: Chapter 15 Volume 1 P. 0003

Greek special edition: Chapter 05 Volume 4 P. 0224

Danish special edition: Series I Chapter 1959-1962 P. 0007

English special edition: Series I Chapter 1959-1962 P. 0007

DIRECTIVES laying down the basic standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY,

Having regard to the provisions of the Treaty, and in particular Articles 30 and 31 thereof;

Having regard to the opinion of the group of experts appointed by the Scientific and Technical Committee from among the scientific experts of the Member States;

Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee;

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ; After consulting the European Parliament;

Whereas basic standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations must, as specified in the Treaty, be laid down in order to enable each Member State, in accordance with Article 33 of the Treaty, to lay down the appropriate laws, regulations or administrative provisions to ensure compliance, to take the necessary measures with regard to teaching, education and vocational training, and to lay down such provisions in harmony with those applicable in this field in the other Member States;

Whereas the protection of the health of workers and of the general public requires that any activity involving a danger arising from ionising radiation must be made subject to rules;

Whereas it is necessary that basic standards be adapted to the conditions governing the use of nuclear energy and that they vary according to whether occupationally exposed persons or persons belonging to special groups of the population are concerned or protection of the population as a whole is envisaged;

Whereas the protection of the health of the general public entails a system of surveillance, inspection and accident procedure;

Whereas procedure for the protection of the health of workers calls for both medical and physical radiation protection surveillance;

HAS ADOPTED THESE DIRECTIVES:

TITLE I

Definitions

Article 1

For the purposes of these Directives, the following terms have the meaning hereby assigned to them: § 1 - Physical and Radiological Terms

"Maximum permissible concentration of a radioactive nuclide" : the concentration of this nuclide in air inhaled or in drinking water which delivers the maximum permissible dose under conditions of continuous exposure. It is expressed in units of activity per unit volume.

"Contamination" : radioactive contamination, i.e. the contamination of any material or any area by radioactive substances.

In the particular case of workers, such contamination includes both external skin contamination and internal contamination irrespective of method of intake (inhalation, ingestion, absorption through the skin, etc.).

"Disintegration" : the process of spontaneous breakdown of a nucleus of an atom resulting in the emission of a particle or a photon or of a particle and a photon.

"Natural background radiation" : all ionising radiations from natural terrestrial and cosmic sources.

"Uptake" : internal contamination in which radioactive substances participate in the metabolism of the body.

"Exposure" : any exposure to ionising radiation ; a distinction is made between external radiation, where the source is outside the body, and internal radiation, which is caused by the uptake of radioactive substances.

"Planned abnormal exposure" : total exposure to ionising radiation...

This text has been adopted from EUR-Lex.

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