Characterization of Radioactive Waste Products in the Context of the New German Radiation Protection Ordinance and of Relevant

A survey is given on the new German Radiation Protection Ordinance (RPO) and on the basis of the underlying system of radiation protection. Emphasis is laid upon the system of exclusion, exemption, and clearance in the context of radioactive wastes from practices and of production residues from work activities. The role of national and international standards in the process of harmonization of provisions of other ordinances and of guidelines with the new RPO as well as some open questions are discussed. 1 The Amendment of the German Radiation Protection Ordinance of 2001 On July 1, 2001, the German Government has amended the Radiation Protection Ordinance (RPO) [1] thereby implementing two new Council Directives the Euratom Basic Safety Standards [2] and Directive 97/43/Euratom on health protection of individuals in relation to medical exposure [3] in Germany. The respective ordinance was issued on the basis of an amendment of the Atomic Energy Law of May 3, 2000 [4]. Together with the RPO, nine other related ordinances were amended. The German Government has used the occasion of the amendment for a complete re-structuring of the RPO. The new RPO consists of five parts: Part 1 (§§ 1-3) General provisions gives the objective of the ordinance, defines its scope and contains detailed provisions on definitions. The objective of the Ordinance is the protection of man and of the environment, against the negative effects of ionizing radiation. Part 2 (§§ 4-92) deals with the protection of man and the environment against radioactive substances or ionizing radiation resulting from goal oriented uses in connection with practices. Part 3 (§§ 93-104) Protection of man and the environment against ionizing radiation emanating from natural sources covers certain types of work activities involving the presence of natural radiation sources leading to non-negligible exposures. Part 4 (§§ 105-110) deals with the protection of consumers in connection with the addition of radioactive substances to products. Part 5 (§§ 111-118) contains joint provisions applicable to all parts of the ordinance such as transitional and final provisions and administrative fees. In this paper, some basics of the new ordinance and of the underlying system of radiation protection are discussed. Emphasis is laid upon aspects of exclusion, exemption and clearance in the particular context of radioactive waste from practices and of production residues from work activities. For a 1 submitted to Proceedings 4 Int. Seminar on Radioactive Waste Products, Sept. 22 26, 2002, Würzburg.