Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Belarus (Ratification: 1968)

1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to the previous direct request, as well as the legal and regulatory texts supplied with the report. With reference to its previous comments the Committee notes that the Radiation Safety Standards (HPБ-2000), appended to the Government’s report, give effect to Article 3, paragraph 1, Article 6, paragraph 2, and Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention.

2. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in the report that the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the radiation security of the population", as adopted in 1998, has become obsolete in some of its provisions. The proposed amendments to the said Law have been drafted and have been adopted (at the first reading) by the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. The Committee hopes that the amendments in question, after adoption, will give due effect to the provisions of the Convention to which it referred to in its previous comments.

3. Article 8. Level of exposure of workers not engaged in radiation work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in an earlier report that the established dose limit for non-radiation workers is 5 mSv per year, under the condition that in the following five years the effective dose does not exceed 1 mSv. The dose limit provided in the most recent recommendations adopted in 1990 by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) - referred to in its 1992 general observation under this Convention - is 1 mSv per year, averaged over five consecutive years. The Committee accordingly invites the Government to revise the dose limit for non-radiation workers in the light of the above recommendations of the ICRP.

4. Article 13. Emergency exposure. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication concerning the role of the Department for Supervision of Industrial and Nuclear Safety of the Ministry for Emergency Situations as administrator of the state policy of radiation security. The Committee notes a description of tasks of the Department for Supervision and Regulation of Nuclear and Radiation Security of the same Ministry among which are the following: the supervision of hazardous nuclear and radiation facilities; the analysis of nuclear and radiation safety in the country; the preparation and implementation of steps to improve radiation safety levels; administration of the state system for registering and monitoring sources of ionizing radiation; overseeing the administration of the state system for registering and monitoring nuclear materials; conducting expert examinations of hazardous radiation equipment. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether and to what extent measures have been taken to review and possibly suspend authorizations granted for certain practices or the use of specific equipment which, following an accident, have been found unsafe.