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Staff Health in Focus
New IAEA Lab Dedicated to Staff Occupational Exposure to Radiation Opens in Vienna
Staff Report
21 November 2008
Inauguration of the new lab facilities at the Vienna International Centre. (Photo: D. Calma/IAEA)
A new facility dedicated to assessing the occupational exposure of IAEA staff to external sources of radiation and intake of radionuclides was officially inaugurated at the Agency´s headquarters in Vienna.
The new radiation monitoring and protection services laboratories group three components of key importance for staff health monitoring: the External Dosimetry Laboratory; the Whole Body Counter Laboratory; and the Urine Analysis Laboratory. Previously, these were housed in different locations, including the Vienna International Centre and the IAEA Seibersdorf Analytical Laboratory. The new set-up will allow for considerable savings in terms of human, as well as financial resources.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei inaugurated the new facilities.
"It is certainly convenient to have all the laboratories dedicated to the radiation protection and safety of members of staff under one roof. This was an excellent idea and I commend the initiative," he said.
Rodolfo Cruz-Suarez, leader of the laboratory service group, highlighted the financial and operational benefits of the move.
"The relocation will allow for annual savings of approximately $170,000, as calculated in 2003 money. Besides, improvement in the quality of the services and customer satisfaction has also been achieved," he said.
"This project is a demonstration of the so-called One House Approach adopted at the Vienna International Centre (VIC). The relocation was made possible by the financial contributions from the IAEA Departments of Safeguards, and of Nuclear Safety and Security, as well as the support of the IAEA General Services and the UNIDO Building Management."
Renate Czarwinski, who heads the testing laboratory, explained that the state-of-the-art facility will also be used for training and capacity building on methods for the assessment of occupationally-exposed workers.
"The methods used in the labs are approved by the IAEA Safety Regulator. They are also accredited as testing laboratory by the Austrian Accreditation authority based on the ISO 17025 regulation," she said.
Background
The IAEA has the statutory responsibility to apply its safety standards to its own operations and to operations under its control or supervision. It is responsible for the radiation protection and safety of members of staff, individuals under contract, experts, trainees, visitors and any other persons who may be exposed to materials or other sources of ionizing radiation during these operations.
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