The collaboration between ISIN, ISPRA and Environmental Agencies is strengthened

Tuesday 9 June 2020

The collaboration between ISIN, ISPRA and Environmental Agencies is strengthened

Framework Agreement on radiation protection, environmental radioactivity, emergency preparedness signed

The text of the Framework Agreement between the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN), Environmental Agencies and ISPRA has been approved.

The agreement has as its objective the most effective exercise of the tasks and institutional functions of prevention, control and monitoring in the field of radiation protection, monitoring and surveillance of environmental radioactivity and preparation and response to nuclear and radiological emergencies. Thanks to the provision, the framework of relations with the Regional Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPA/APPA) is defined for the technical support on investigations, controls and inspections under ISIN's competence, despite the activities of the Agencies in the field of own competences defined at regional level.

The Regional Agencies are part of the RESORAD, of which ISIN performs the technical coordination and guidance functions, collects and disseminates the results of the measurements carried out, manages the national database on environmental radioactivity (DBRad ) and transmits the information relating to national surveys to the European Commission.

Within RESORAD, thanks to the recently signed agreement, collaboration is strengthened for the implementation of the national environmental radioactivity monitoring plan, prepared by ISIN and after consultation with the ARPA/APPA and other entities on the Network.

The alarm function of the RESORAD network is also reiterated through the prompt notification to ISIN of anomalous results and the support of radiometric measurements to the Data Processing and Evaluation Center (CEVaD) in the event of radiological emergencies.

ISIN and Environmental Agencies renew their collaboration for monitoring environmental radioactivity in neighboring areas of nuclear plants on the occasion of requests from the European Commission to the Member States.

As regards the automatic networks for monitoring environmental radioactivity, the transmission to ISIN, in real time, of the data produced, in routine as in emergency situations, from the automatic monitoring stations of the ARPA/APPA and support for the local management of the ISIN automatic networks and their possible hosting in the ARPA/APPA areas.

With regard to the monitoring of radon, radioactive gas produced by the decay of uranium, the Framework Agreement defines the areas of collaboration, aimed at populating the national database, managed by ISIN and sharing the results of the measurements made.

ISIN has definitively taken over the ownership of the functions and competences in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection, including those previously attributed to ISPRA which therefore are not part of the functions and technical and scientific tasks on which the Institute exercises, in a network logic, coordination within the SNPA. With the Framework Agreement, ISPRA and ISIN undertake to collaborate to ensure the full takeover of the Inspectorate also in the agreements signed by ISPRA with the ARPA/APPA for the integration of automatic networks for monitoring environmental radioactivity and for monitoring and control of nuclear sites.

Last update: Tuesday 9 June 2020