Ionizing radiation

The Radiation Protection Regulations aim at the protection of health in cases of occupational exposure, in cases of medical exposure and in cases of public exposure to ionizing radiation.

Specifically, the Radiation Protection Regulations are applied in:

  • planned exposure situations; these are the cases of the planned use of radiation sources, such as the use of radiography systems for medical purposes, the use of radiation sources in industry etc. These situations may result in the exposure of:
    • workers (e.g. persons handling an X-ray system)
    • public (e.g. persons in the vicinity of areas where nuclear medicine treatments are taking place) and 
    • persons/patients submitted to medical radiological examinations. 
  • existing exposure situations; these are the cases of an unknown radiation source or of a radiation source out of regulatory control. These situations may result in the exposure of:
    • workers (e.g. workers in places with increased levels of natural radioactivity)
    • public (e.g. residents of buildings with high concentrations of radon)
  • emergency exposure situations; these are the cases resulted from planned exposure situations that evolved to emergency or from illegal actions. These situations may result in the exposure of workers (e.g. first responders, firemen) and the public.

The regulatory control ensures the compliance with the regulatory requirements and includes (a) all the justified radiation practices, (b) the practices involving naturally-occurring radioactive material and (c) the transport of radioactive materials. The regulatory control is conducted on the basis of a graded approach and includes the following two stages:

a. Notification or authorisation of practices. Authorisation means the registration or licensing of a practice. 

The notification or authorisation of practices includes issuing the respective administrative document depending the practice, i.e. notification number, certificate of registration or license.

b. Inspections. The inspections are conducted by EEAE in order to verify the compliance with the regulatory requirements.

The inspections are “scheduled”, following the annual inspections plan, or “extraordinary”, which are conducted in cases that the compliance with radiation protection regulations needs to be verified (especially upon complaints, events, etc.).

EEAE publishes the outline of the inspection programme for ionizing radiation practices and the main findings from their implementation, in line with the provisions of the new radiation protection regulations where the annual publication of this type of data is foreseen.  

Regulatory framework

The Greek Radiation Protection Regulations have been amended in order to comply with the Euratom Basic Safety Standards Directive, as well as to take into account the findings of international peer reviews (e.g. IRRS 2012, 2017) of the national regulatory framework and the regulatory experience gained the last 20 years.

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Notification

The undertaking applying the practices described in Part A of the Annex of the joint ministerial decision 45872/2019 "Procedures for the regulatory control of practices of ionizing radiation - approval and recognition of services and experts" (Government Gazette No. 1103/Β/03.04.2019) is subject to regulatory control by means of notification. 

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Registration

The undertaking applying the practices described in Part B of the Annex of the joint ministerial decision 45872/2019 "Procedures for the regulatory control of practices of ionizing radiation - approval and recognition of services and experts" (Government Gazette No. 1103/Β/03.04.2019) is subject to regulatory control by means of registration.

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Licensing

The undertaking applying the practices described in Part C of the Annex of the joint ministerial decision 45872/2019 "Procedures for the regulatory control of practices of ionizing radiation - approval and recognition of services and experts" (Government Gazette No. 1103/Β/03.04.2019) is subject to regulatory control by means of licensing. 

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MRI systems

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic imaging examination which is based on the phenomenon of magnetic resonance. Unlike the computed tomography scans, MRI scans do not involve the use of ionizing radiation, but the use of magnetic fields (non-ionizing radiation).

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Transport of radioactive materials

For over a century, radioactive materials are used on a daily basis and contribute to the improvement of the quality of our lives. Nowadays, the availability of popular products depends on the credible transport of radioactive materials, from their producer to the end user.

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Enforcement policy

According to the provisions of article 46, Law no. 4310/2014, in case of an infringement of radiation protection regulations, the legislation in force or the regulatory actions issued by their authority, and upon previous hearing of the stakeholders, EEAE may impose penalties.

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