Development of the Legal Framework in the Field of Radiation Safety

Abstract

Purpose: To justify the main areas of Russian legacy framework in the field of radiation safety assurance as a basis for improvement of the current standards and regulations. Material and methods: The article analyses international documents and Russian federal laws regulating different aspects of human safety and highlights the most important approaches and procedures of safety assurance proven in practice. Results: The necessity of developing new federal law “On Radiation Safety in Russian Federation” is substantiated. The article shows that internationally recognized principles of radiation safety assurance should be applied in Russia: those are the preservation principle, the responsibility principle, the continuous control principle and, in particular, the permission principle. The last principle means that what is not permitted is forbidden when it comes to handling ionizing radiation sources. The article describes the main provisions and elements of new law and details some considerations that need to be articulated and enhanced in new federal law based on positive experience of their implementation in the current federal laws on different safety aspects. Conclusion: New federal Law “On Radiation Safety in Russian Federation” should incorporate all positive experience of applying the current Federal Law of 09.01.1996 N 3-FL “On Radiation Safety of the Public” and other Russian laws regulating different aspects of human safety assurance in various fields. New law should be based on unconditional priority of protection of human life and health, present and future generations and the environment from possible radiation exposure. New law should enable interaction of the facilities whose activities are related to handling ionizing radiation sources and facilities of the infrastructure for radiation safety assurance, as well as provide connection to other regulations that set specific norms and requirements in the field of radiation safety assurance.