ARPANSA is proud to announce that our Chief Radiation Health Scientist and Deputy CEO, Dr Gillian Hirth, has been appointed to the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for the term 2021-2025. 

Members of the Main Commission form the governing body of the ICRP, providing policy guidance and direction. The Main Commission works closely with the Scientific Secretariat to oversee ICRP’s committees and task groups that are established to develop recommendations and guidance on all aspects of protection against ionising radiation. 

‘ICRP is one of the most influential bodies on international frameworks for radiation protection, with around 300 experts contributing to the work of the Main Commission, Committees or Task Groups,’ said Dr Hirth. 

‘I’m excited to help lead ICRP’s operations over the next four years following on from my time as a member of Committee 4 from 2017-2021. Being able to draw on the experiences we have across Australia in radiation protection, and to be able to actively guide the future development of the international framework is a real honour’ said Dr Hirth.  

ARPANSA’s Chief Medical Radiation Scientist, Dr Ivan Williams, has also been appointed as a member of ICRP’s Committee 3, which focuses on radiological protection in medicine. 
These appointments continue ARPANSA’s long history of involvement with the ICRP, with staff represented on a range of committees and CEO Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson retiring from the Main Commission at the end of this month. 

 ‘ARPANSA’s strong representation on ICRP is a significant recognition of the international standing of our staff and Australia’s radiation protection frameworks,’ said ARPANSA CEO, Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson.

The appointments come into effect from 1 July 2021.

About the International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP)
The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is an independent, international, not-for-profit organisation that advances for the public benefit the science of radiological protection, in particular by providing recommendations and guidance on all aspects of protection for people and the environment against the harmful effects of ionising radiation.  Its recommendations form the basis of radiological protection policy, regulations, guidelines and practice worldwide. For more information, visit www.icrp.org. 

About Dr Gillian Hirth
Dr Gillian Hirth is ARPANSA’s Chief Radiation Health Scientist, Deputy CEO, she has a PhD in environmental radiochemistry and expertise in radioecology.  

Dr Hirth is the current Australian Representative and Chair of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), a member of the Commission on Safety Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and until 30 June 2021 a member of the ICRP’s Committee 4. 

Recent tests conducted at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in Paris have confirmed that the Australian Primary Standard for ionising radiation, which underpins every radiotherapy treatment for cancer in Australia, remains accurate and in-line with international standards.

The tests were conducted as part of ARPANSA’s ongoing validation of equipment and involved comparison against the most accurate radiation equipment of other countries.

‘ARPANSA sent two ionisation chambers to Paris for testing to ensure radiation measurements, and patient doses administered in Australia, are accurate and align with international standards.’ said ARPANSA’s Chief Medical Radiation Scientist, Dr Ivan Williams.

‘This helps ensure what is being delivered to the patient is ‘what the doctor ordered’

The results of the comparison showed that ARPANSA’s measurement of dose is within half a per cent 0.2 % of the BIPM reference value. This level of accuracy is equal to, or better than peers in other parts of the world.

ARPANSA calibrates every hospital reference instrument against the Primary Standard for all 107 radiotherapy providers in Australia. The BIPM test is thus critical for ensuring that accuracy of medical treatments that use radiation. 

‘Accurate radiation dosage is very important for the thousands of Australians who have radiation treatment for cancer every year. The accuracy means that every patient in Australian is being treated with the prescribed amount of radiation, which is crucial for patients participating in clinical trials across multiple hospitals,’ said Dr Williams.

‘The outstanding results mean we can continue to provide excellent measurement and dosage services for Australian industries and continue to deliver on our vision of a safe radiation environment for the Australian community,’ said Dr Williams.

ARPANSA works with international bodies to share knowledge and develop best practice radiation protection and nuclear safety through regulation.

In November 2018, Australia hosted an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regulatory review to assess Australia’s national arrangements for radiation protection and nuclear safety. 

ARPANSA has now published Australia’s Action Plan to implement the findings from the review, following endorsement by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) in December 2020.

‘This action plan is the result of extensive engagement with other parts of government at the federal and state and territory level. The implementation of this action plan will help progress uniformity of radiation regulation across jurisdictions and contribute to our work in maintaining a safe radiation environment for all Australians’ said Dr Carl-Magnus Larsson, CEO of ARPANSA.

The review resulted in 23 recommendations and 12 suggestions and the Action Plan has been developed to address these findings. 

A follow up mission to assess Australia’s progress in responding to the 2018 review is expected to occur in 2023.

You can access Australia’s Action Plan at https://www.arpansa.gov.au/sites/default/files/irrs_action_plan.pdf  

A study conducted by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the University of Auckland has found no link between mobile phone use and salivary gland cancers.

Published in the scientific journal, Cancer Epidemiology, the study looked at the number of parotid and other salivary gland cancers occurring in Australia from 1982 to 2016, which coincides with the rise of mobile phone use among the general population. 

‘When using a mobile phone against the head, the salivary glands and especially the parotid gland, which is located in front of the ear, are amongst the most exposed areas of the body,’ said Adjunct Associate Professor, Ken Karipidis. 

‘The 34 years of data analysed in the study does not indicate that mobile phone use has increased the incidence of parotid or other salivary gland cancers,’ said Adj Assoc Prof, Ken Karipidis.

The study did observe an increase in parotid gland cancer in females since 2006, however, due to similar radio wave absorption and mobile usage rates for males and females, other factors specifically related to females may be the cause. 

‘This increase highlights the need for more research into the cause of parotid gland cancer, and any factors that may impact the sexes differently,’ said Adj Assoc Prof, Ken Karipidis. 

The findings of the study remain consistent with the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) assessment that exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic energy within international safety limits has no adverse health effects on the human body. 

Australian safety limits were recently updated and are aligned with international limits.

The study is freely available until early July on the Science Direct website. 

As part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, international academic journal, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, has announced that ARPANSA’s 2017 research paper ‘Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field from Wi-fi in Australian schools’, is one of the five most-read articles in the journal’s history.

Published in August 2017, the paper shared the findings from ARPANSA’s study on Wi-fi in Australian schools, assessing the electromagnetic energy (EME) emissions levels and comparing them to exposure limits in the 2002 Australian safety standard, which was the national safety standard at that time.  

‘Our study showed that exposure to radio waves from Wi-fi and other telecommunications sources in the everyday environment are very low and are not expected to adversely affect the health of children or the general population,’ said Adjunct Associate Professor Ken Karipidis, ARPANSA’s Assistant Director of Health Impact Assessment.

Since its launch, the journal article has been viewed more than 4000 times and the Wi-fi study summary on ARPANSA’s website received a further 4000 views. These results indicate strong public interest in the safety of Wi-fi and electromagnetic energy (EME) exposure in the community.

‘The level of interest in ARPANSA’s gold-standard research reflects the importance of our involvement in the government’s enhanced EME program,’ said Program Director, Associate Professor Sarah Loughran.

‘As part of our role in that program, ARPANSA will continue to lead, promote and coordinate EME research under our 2020-2024 Action Plan,’ said Associate Professor Sarah Loughran.

‘We look forward to sharing more of our research over the coming years.’

You can view Radiation Protection Dosimetry’s 40th Anniversary Collection here.

Every day, humans are exposed to radiation. From natural radiation sources such as minerals in the ground to artificial sources such as receiving an X-ray for medical purposes, we receive doses of radiation from a variety of sources.

Contributing to our everyday exposure is radiation from the continuous interaction of particles from the sun and space with Earth and its atmosphere – known as galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). 

Director of ARPANSA’s Assessment and Advice section, Dr Rick Tinker, said GCR contributes to approximately 25% of the natural radiation dose that is present in the Australian public.

‘While the Earth’s atmosphere and geomagnetic field provide sufficient shielding, meaning our exposure at ground level is not of particular concern from a radiation protection perspective, exposure to GCR does increase with altitude,’ said Dr Tinker.

To ensure the safety of the Australian public, ARPANSA estimated the annual GCR doses to the public at ground levels and at altitudes of commercial domestic and international flights.

It was found that exposure to GCR received by occasional flyers as well as the majority of frequent flyers is considered to be sufficiently low, and there is no need to introduce any additional protection measures. 

For frequent flyers who have exposures comparable to aircrew, their exposure should be managed as an occupational exposure and on a case-by-case basis.

To be considered a flyer whose exposure is comparable to aircrew, you would need to fly the equivalent of 42 return trips from Australia to London in a year, so it is unlikely for someone to fall into this category,’ said Dr Tinker.

To read the full study, visit https://academic.oup.com/rpd/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/rpd/ncab023/6158060

This study provides valuable insight into understanding cosmic radiation exposure to the Australian public and in particular critical population groups that are frequent flyers.

Many workplaces use radiation and it is essential that employees understand the risks and protections in place. 

ARPANSA has developed free Occupational Radiation Exposure (ORE) training for all people working in medical facilities that use ionising radiation. This includes hospitals and clinics that use X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans or nuclear medicine.  

The ORE modules provide useful information and guidance for all medical and non-medical staff and can be tailored to different occupations including nurses, cleaning staff and radiologists. They are the first online training modules of their kind to allow participants to personalise material to their individual needs. 

‘ARPANSA is proud to have developed this important training material, which will support efforts for comprehensive and consistent radiation safety training of all staff working in medical facilities’, said Dr Ivan Williams, Chief Medical Radiation Scientist at ARPANSA. 

‘We’ve already had uptake from a range of facilities across Australia and we’ve received positive feedback from clinics and staff.’ 

Empowering all staff with the information they need to understand the level of risk builds an informed workforce and also supports patient confidence and safety. 

‘Health risks from occupational exposure to ionising radiation are well managed in Australia and these training modules provide an extra level of reassurance and understanding,’ said Dr Williams. 

The ORE modules are interactive, use contemporary adult learning principles and have been developed with extensive feedback from industry.  

They can be completed online or downloaded and used independently by medical facilities. 

Find out more: Occupational Radiation Exposure for medical facilities  

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have tested eight ultraviolet (UV) radiation nail polish drying devices to assess their ability to cause skin damage.

The eight devices use artificial UV radiation to dry, harden and cure finger and toenail polish.

All the devices emitted UV with widely varying intensity, however the study found that all eight devices posed a low risk to users when they used the device for the required drying times.

‘We calculated the safe exposure time for each device and found the one with the highest UV radiation was hazardous only after 38 minutes, which would be much longer than needed to adequately dry nail polish as drying times ranged from six seconds to 150 seconds,’ said Dr Elke Hacker, Research Fellow at QUT.

However, the risk may be greater to those who are particularly sensitive to UV. Those with any health concerns may wish to seek further advice. 

‘While the study shows that the risk of skin damage is low, users can opt to wear fingerless gloves and/or sunscreen to protect their hands during the nail polish drying process,’ said Dr Rick Tinker, Director of Assessment and Advice at ARPANSA.

Clear labelling of safe operating conditions and potential hazards of using a UV-emitting nail curing device would be beneficial to consumers.

The study’s UV measurements were conducted by ARPANSA and the findings were published in a Letter to the Editor, Quantifying the ultraviolet radiation emitted by nail curing devices: a descriptive study”, in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology.

ARPANSA has recently made amendments to the 2018 Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Regulations.  

These Regulations apply to all Commonwealth regulated entities, including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Department of Defence and others. 

‘The latest set of amendments include simplified application fees, updated requirements and clearer definitions,’ said Jim Scott, ARPANSA’s Chief Regulatory Officer. 

‘These will help our licence holders fulfil their obligations and will continue to support our vision of a safe radiation environment for the Australian community,’ said Mr Scott.  

Effective from Saturday 6 March 2021, the amendments include:  

• Simplification of source licence application fees by removing the calculation based on the number of sources. 
• Introduction of cost-recovered application fees for complex facilities, including an hourly rate, to reflect the true cost of assessment. 
• Revision of the definition of non-ionising radiation-controlled apparatus to capture a broader range of apparatus.  
• Amendment of Section 44 to exempt certain lasers, optical fibre systems and klystrons from licensing requirements where they pose a very low radiation risk. 
• Amendment of Section 58 to require licence holders to proactively review and update their plans and arrangements for managing safety following a previous incident. 

You can view the full explanatory statement for the amendments on the Federal Register for Legislation. 

Two new scientific reviews conducted by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and Swinburne University of Technology have found no evidence of adverse health effects from the radio waves used in 5G.

Considered to be the worlds-first reviews on this topic, the first scientific review examined 138 studies on low-level radio waves above 6 GHZ, also called millimetre waves, to assess the current state-of-the-science on 5G radio waves.  

The review assessed 107 experimental studies that investigated various biological effects including genotoxicity, cell proliferation, gene expression, cell signalling, and membrane function and 31 epidemiological studies that investigated exposure to radar, which uses radio waves similar to 5G.

‘In conclusion, a review of all the studies provided no substantiated evidence that low-level radio waves, like those used by the 5G network, are hazardous to human health,’ said Dr Karipidis, Assistant Director, Assessment and Advice at ARPANSA.

The second review by ARPANSA and Swinburne University was a meta-analysis which reanalysed the 107 experimental studies on low-level millimetre waves to assess any biological effects.

‘This meta-analysis of the experimental studies also presented little evidence of an association between millimetre waves and adverse health effects,’ said Dr Karipidis.

‘Studies that did report biological effects were generally not independently replicated and most of the studies reviewed employed low-quality methods of exposure assessment and control.’

‘We recommend that future experimental studies improve their design with particular attention to dosimetry and temperature control and that future epidemiological studies continue to monitor long-term health effects in the population related to wireless telecommunications,’ said Dr Karipidis.

The findings of these reviews remain consistent with national and international radiation health and safety guidelines, which have deemed low-level 5G radio waves safe for public exposure.

‘ARPANSA is proud to continue our contribution to research and assessment of 5G radiation safety,’ said Dr Gillian Hirth ARPANSA’s Deputy CEO and Chief Radiation Health Scientist. ‘

‘The work is core to our involvement in the Australian Government’s Electromagnetic Energy (EME) Program and helps us deliver on our vision of a safe radiation environment for the Australian Community.’   

The scientific reviews have been published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.