Minutes of the 63th 63Executive Council of IRPA Ref : IRPA ...3AACE155-1D12-4E4C-AB… · Web viewThe President, Ms. Renate Czarwinski, opened the session at 9 am on Thursday, 29th

MINUTES THE 64TH EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF IRPA REF: IRPA EC64/01

MINUTES OF THE 64th EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF IRPAThursday 29TH November – Saturday 1st December 2012

BERLIN, GERMANY

Participants

Renate Czarwinski - PresidentRoger Coates - Vice-PresidentBernard Le Guen – Executive OfficerRichard Toohey - TreasurerChristopher Clement – Publications DirectorAnna Maria BombenEduardo GallegoAlfred HefnerJong Kyung KimSigurður Magnùsson Richard VetterThiaganPather

Guest and moderator of IRPA retreatBrett Burk

29 November 2012

OPENING

The President, Ms. Renate Czarwinski, opened the session at 9 am on Thursday, 29 th

November 2012. She welcomed the Executive Officer and Members in attendance.

This welcome was followed by a 1-day retreat moderated by Brett Burk, with discussion and conclusion on IRPA’s strategy for the next 4 years.

This day was designed to establish objectives for the IRPA work programme up to IRPA 14 in Cape Town in 2016, as well as discussing long term objectives for 4 years before the next International Congress, including:

Vision for the IRPA EC Future structures and strategies for the EC and IRPA Committees Resources needed to support the strategies Next steps and process for implementing key decisions

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30 November 2012

Dr. Pretzsch, Deputy Director of GRS, host of the EC64th meeting in Berlin, welcomed the EC members and presented the activities of the GRS in Germany and abroad.

The President then opened the EC meeting by thanking EC members for their engagement the day before and advised them that Brett Burk’s report should be received shortly.

Adoption of the agenda (EC64-01) and minutes of the 63RD EC meeting (EC64-02)The pre-established Agenda of the EC64 meeting was then adopted with minor changes. The minutes of the 63rd EC meeting were also adopted.

The President thanked the Executive Officer, Bernard Le Guen, and his assistant, Katia Gandwerg, for the high quality report with a new and pleasant layout.

The Executive Officer stated that the EC63 minutes were sent shortly after the EC63 in Glasgow. He subsequently received EC members’ comments and integrated them in the minutes. No further comments from the EC were made that day on this topic.

The President drew the EC members’ attention to the list of actions which was prepared right after the EC 63 meeting and sent to all EC members. In the future, EC members will be provided with such a list shortly after the EC meeting. Chris Clement, Publications Director, indicated that it would be preferable to have a list of actions at the end so as to have only one document. The Executive Officer will be integrating this request for future minutes. The President praised the Executive Officer for the good report format that looks well with a pleasant design. The President recommends using this template for future reports and documents. The template will be posted on the website.

Officers’ reports

The President presented various reports. After the meeting in Glasgow, which was the first EC meeting under the new Presidency, the President asked for contributions and thanked the EC members as most of them were now finalized. As to her own report, the President thanked Roger Coates for developing a basic document: she needed to receive all EC members’ ideas and contributions and sent several reminders about this request. Based on these comments a discussion paper was developed by the President and used for the EC64 retreat on the previous day and for the meeting itself.

Organization of 2014 IRPA Regional Congress in Geneva

Topics for the conference are being discussed and posted on the website. The organizers are looking for contacts with large international entities. Geneva is an ideal location as large organizations such as ILO, WHO, etc. have their headquarters there. These organizations have been contacted and are willing to contribute with topics on radiation protection culture, practices, safety culture, etc. The Swiss government has agreed to sponsor all conference facilities. The organizers have set up a limited company which will be in charge of managing the venue and paying for the meeting in Lausanne. Switzerland is providing strong support to the conference.

North American workshop on ethics and stakeholders’ involvement

During the Sacramento HPS Congress in July 2012, the president had an open and interesting discussion on the Board of Directors as to closer cooperation in the future between IRPA and HPS.

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On this topic, the ICRP and Canadian society are willing to organize workshops jointly with IRPA and HPS. The President has also received an interesting proposal asking IRPA to develop a system for better integration of delegates into the discussions. The idea is to schedule a meeting with HPS delegates during their annual meeting and discuss interaction with IRPA and topical issues on radiation protection. The President was satisfied to see that Dick Toohey and Richard Vetter have volunteered for this task.

Action 42

In conclusion, the President encouraged a more intensive visibility of IRPA in the international arena.

Activities and Communications

ETRAP (A. Hefner - E. Gallego)The ETRAP Conference will take place from March 12 to 15, 2013 in Vienna. This Conference is well organized by its scientific committee: letters of acceptance of abstracts and papers will go out shortly. Things are running smoothly with good advertising on web page (thanks to Chris Clement). The financial situation is quite good, thanks to sponsoring from the Austrian government. Some 150 visitors are expected. Eduardo Gallego will contact Chris Clement when the program is frozen to have it posted on the website. The European Nuclear Society (ENS) together with Seibersdorf Laboratories from Austria are organizing this ETRAP meeting and the program will be finalized at the beginning of 2013. Alfred Hefner and Eduardo Gallego agreed to deliver a presentation on behalf of IRPA (activities and strategy on education and training). However, it is not an IRPA conference: IRPA has agreed to cooperate but it is really a platform to inform on IRPA’s strategy. As IRPA has agreed to contribute, it will be run with the IRPA flag on it. This and previous ETRAP conferences were sponsored by ENS (European Nuclear Society).

The question was raised as to how IRPA should continue to contribute, but not to take it over. Eduardo Gallego suggested that if ENS is no longer interested, IRPA could consider this. If this comes up again, it would be a topic for later discussion at EC level.

Action 1Action 2

STAR ALLIANCE (E. Gallego)STAR project approached the President suggesting a representative from IRPA (Eduardo) to attend the workshop. It was a fruitful meeting. In his presentation, Eduardo indicated to STAR ALLIANCE that IRPA members will be users of radioecology output. The presentation will be included on the STAR ALLIANCE website. When it is ready, a link could be included on IRPA’s website. As it has a clear link with radioecologists, this is a good reason for IRPA to attend. Sigurður Magnùsson commented that it is important to be present when large organizations are also there, to be visible, to promote IRPA and to get value back, by also bringing our personal or joint knowledge in.

Action 3

Proteção 2012 in Lisbon (Portugal) – November 2012The International Congress “Proteção 2012” for Portuguese speaking countries took place in Lisbon from 20 to 23 November 2012. The President was approached by the Portuguese

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colleagues, received an agenda and suggested asking for a short feedback on the IRPA13 congress outcome. It is not only a national Portuguese congress, but of Portuguese-speaking countries (also attended by several African countries). It is a good way to approach RP professionals in Africa. Unfortunately, due to severe illness by the President of the SPPCR, there was no more feedback and finally nobody from the IRPA EC attended the Congress.

However, post-Congress feedback from the SPPCR indicated that the number and quality of presentations was good, and there were good discussions. The attendance from the Brazilian Radiological Protection Society was particularly large. There was also a representative from the IAEA.

The SPPCR officers now plan to prepare an issue of the Journal “Proteção” with the main papers of the Congress. They are also organizing their presence at the IRPA Regional Congress in Rio (April 2013). Next, they will design a strategy plan for the coming year, including a program of activities.

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IACRS (Interagency Committee on Radiation Safety)An IACRS meeting chaired by UNSCEAR took place on Nov 26. All international organizations are observers. There was a discussion on administrative issues facing IACRS: the website is not up-to-date, and their documents are not updated either. A main topic of the upcoming activities is the implementation of the revised International BSS.

IACRNEA cooperation with IACRNE was established in 2011 after Fukushima. It has clear terms of reference that no stakeholders are allowed in this instance. ICRP did a lot of highly valuable work after Fukushima. The current chair of IACRNE should indicate to this committee that ICRP contribution should be considered.

ICRP Task Group 84

A presentation to IACRS was given by Abel González regarding the progress of ICRP Task Group 84 on Initial Lessons Learned from the NPP Accident in Japan vis-à-vis the ICRP System of Radiological Protection. The summary report of this ICRP Task Group (http://www.icrp.org/docs/ICRP%20TG84%20Summary%20Report.pdf) identified 18 issues and 11 recommendations. The RP issues group was asked to review this report and recommend whether IRPA should contribute to the follow-up of these issues and recommendations.

Action 4Action 5

Implementation of IAEA Basic Safety Standards

The IAEA mandate normally covers this topic but IACRS decided to set up a task group with a permanent secretariat, headed by the IAEA. Jointly with IACRS, the IAEA wants the presence of relevant organizations in this group, with an IRPA member as observer. IRPA could be more than just an observer in this task group by providing advice, training courses, and also participating in workshops.

Other matters

The Executive Officer was asked to make a presentation on his participation in ICRP Committee 4.

Reports by the Vice-President and progress with potential new Associate Societies

As a reminder, the Admission Committee is under the responsibility of the Vice President, who has listed the 5 countries with whom IRPA is currently in contact, i.e. Cameroun, Ethiopia, Nepal, Qatar, India and Kosovo (which has a society but is not recognized by the United Nations as a separate country yet).

The Vice President indicated that he had absolutely no visibility on other countries and would like to compile a master list with potential Associate Societies (approximately 15 currently), lead contact within each country and the person in charge of following up on the IRPA side. Ana Maria Bomben agreed to help the Vice President for South America (Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay). The President would also like IRPA to approach the countries where there is

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currently no society (Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, who had a society and no longer has one). The Vice President presented a plan for support from other EC members.It was asked if there was a possibility to directly interact on the website or if it was necessary to go through Chris Clement. In the future, Associate Societies will be able to go on the website and update their own information. It would be good if the Vice President could provide the name of countries to the Publications Director for the website.

Action 6

Conclusions on IRPA 13 in Glasgow

The President gave her official thanks to the Vice President and his full team including Congrex staff for their excellent preparation and their tremendous effort. The Congress was a full success (see full report posted on the website).

Sievert Award

We reviewed the pending implementation of the new Sievert Award Committee which will be selecting the winner of the Sievert Award for the 2016 IRPA International Congress in Cape Town.

IRPA’s Vice President , Roger Coates is the Chairman of the Sievert Award IRPA Committee and the Committee members are:

Ken Kase - [US HPS, IRPA past president] Phil Metcalf - [South Africa RPS, IRPA past president] Jacques Lochard - [SFRP, IRPA past Ex. Officer] Abel Gonzales - [Argentine RPS] Rich Vetter - [US HPS and IRPA EC] Yoshiharu Yonekura - [Japan HPS]

Roger will be collecting the names of potential candidates for this Award from the AS

IRPA14

The President encouraged Thiagan Pather to take due note of the EC comments and the Vice President’s advice. In his turn, the Vice President asked who had the liability if IRPA14 made a loss. Thiagan Pather indicated that he was considering setting up a limited company, depending on VAT (14% in South Africa as opposed to 20% in the UK). The EC will be informed about the outcome in due time for the EC-65 meeting.

Action 7

Executive Officer’s Report

The Executive Officer presented a document describing his activities since the previous EC meeting in Glasgow.

Financial Report

The Treasurer (Dick Toohey) presented IRPA’s financial report and commented on this report.

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Eduardo Gallego was appointed by the EC to retrieve overdue dues from Cuba as was Kim Jong, to retrieve overdue dues from India.

Montreal Fund

The President indicated that the EC frequently receives questions from Associate Societies on the Montreal Fund and in her opinion, the expenses need to be explained. It is important to have a team in charge of dealing with these funds. According to Sigurður M. Magnússon, it is important that there is indeed a committee to deal with it. Eduardo Gallego reminded the EC that there is a section on the webpage explaining what The Montreal Fund does. An action was placed on Dick Toohey to write a 1-page document explaining the rights of the committee (6.2.4 in constitution).

Action 8

Finally, it was suggested to open a safe IRPA account that earns interest.

Translation of Bo Lindell’s books

According to the President, such topics could be addressed by email rather than having to wait for the EC meeting itself. This procedure was supported by most of the officers.IRPA fully supports the translation of Bo Lindell’s books. It was decided to fund the translation that will be accessible for free on the web.

The question was asked as to the value of such endeavor to IRPA and its members. The President stated her support for a 5000-eurocontribution by IRPA, which would represent a token acknowledgement to this important work. It maybe a good idea to have it available on IRPA’s website (with a link).

As a reminder, Bo Lindell is a former IRPA’s President and the first recipient of the Sievert Award. His work in the area of radiation protection through ICRP and UNSCEAR is widely recognized. Ana Maria Bomben fully encouraged the initiative of translating this masterpiece into English as it is the international language. The first volume has been translated in Spanish and will be posted on the website shortly. Abel Gonzalez will be meeting with Jack Valentin and Bo Lindell to discuss this topic. Argentina has only one Swedish to Spanish official translator and it was difficult to persuade him to do this translation. The Argentine society obtained the support of two retired AS members, who agreed to help with proofreading. The plan was to have 300 pages translated in 3 months and it took a year. The regulator agreed to contribute and paid 60% of the translation. Some hard copies will be handed out as gifts.

It is important to have the translation available when IRPA celebrates its 50 th anniversary. It will be of use to a fair number of IRPA members worldwide if the necessary time is taken to promote it. IRPA can begin promoting the English translation with the Spanish translation. Three volumes have been translated into German. It will be a national society effort. The EC voted to support the translation into English with 5000 euros.

Action 9Action 10

Publications Director’s Report

Update of the IRPA website

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The irpa.net website has been moved on a temporary website address whilst in development. In a week or two, all EC members will be using the website for a couple of weeks to make sure there are no bugs. After that, it will move to the irpa.net address.

Action 11

The comment was made that it is important to find the right IRPA section right away, which will be possible with the new software. The IRPA 11 and 12 sections have been moved. As to IRPA 13, the major task will be to transfer to pdf files, hoping that the transfer occurs shortly after validation by all EC members toward the beginning of January 2013.

IRPA now has a Facebook page, which is a nice start but there could be much more on it. Anybody having a Facebook account can to add comments to it. Or documents can be sent to Chris Clement who can post them on the website.

As to Twitter, it is a nice tool to send information if used responsibly.

For the Communications Committee, the related terms of reference were sent recently.

Action 12 Action 13

Forthcoming IRPA regional congresses (Brazil, Switzerland, Morocco, Malaysia)

Ana Maria Bomben presented the status of the Ninth South American IRPA Regional Congress on Nuclear and Radiation Safety in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with details on the venue. The dates of the Congress have been changed to 14-19 April 2013.The Congress website is in English, Spanish and Portuguese and the Forum is to take place on Monday. As to the Young Professional Awards, the situation is totally different in South America and according to Sigurður Magnùsson, IRPA needs to give its support to the awards. The comment was made that if it is an IRPA Congress, translation into English should be provided.

Action 14

The President suggested holding the next EC meeting in Rio, i.e. from 13th to 15th April, 2013. It is desirable to have all EC members appear there to show IRPA’s commitment to radiation protection. The EC agreed to attend, depending on the costs, and the question was raised as to how long the EC should stay, which specific meetings should be attended, and which presentations should be given by EC members. It was proposed that the EC members attend the opening ceremony on Sunday, 14 April, the Conference on Monday, various meetings on Monday afternoon and the IRPA societies forum. Held up by ICRP activities, Christopher Clement would not be able to attend.

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Action 15Action 16

Fourth European Congress, Geneva, Switzerland - 23-27 June 2014‘Radiation Protection Culture – a global challenge’

The President indicated that the Swiss government and ARRAD are providing good support to the Geneva Congress. 6 or 7 EC members will attend.

African IRPA Regional Congress, Rabat, Morocco, 13-17 September 2014

No information on this Regional Congress has been received from Rabat.

Action 18Action 19

Malaysia Regional Congress- 12-16 May 2014

As there has been no development so far on EC participation in the Malaysia Congress, the Vice President asked for a decision. Christopher Clement stated that he would prefer to go to Asia rather than Geneva. The EC could go to Africa in 2015, to check the situation and feel comfortable about the preparation of the Congress.

A discussion followed regarding roles and responsibilities in supporting regional congresses. The President appointed Ana Maria Bomben to be single point of contact for the Rio Congress and member of the organizing committee.

As to the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Congress, Jong Kim talked with Nuria and was informed that they were going to set up an organizing committee before the end of the year. The question is whether the meeting was held or not. They are also trying to establish their

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overseas committee. Jong Kim has not been able to establish what they have done so far. Their homepage is not finalized and many things are currently in progress. However, there are still 1,5 years ahead as the congress will take place from May 12, to 16, 2014. More details about their preparation will be shared at the next EC meeting. Jong Kim was officially proposed by the EC as IRPA representative on the organizing committee.

The President indicated that IRPA had received an application from an Indian company applying for the 4th Regional Congress and informed them that since the 4th will be organized by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, they should contact their counterpart in Malaysia.

The President then raised the question as to how else did IRPA want to support Regional Congresses. The initial step was to have a legal partner. For the congresses (even international congresses), there is always one responsible company or association. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)has to be signed by the host society, which would be responsible for the Congress. However, the wording of such MOUs has to be carefully prepared. The EC can change the Rules but would need to consult on any changes through the Rules Committee. However, they are so broad that a MOU could be more detailed, for instance on the sharing of profits and losses. According to the Vice President, another ‘rule’ could be added by indicating that a MOU would have to be established between the host society and the EC. On the issue of languages used and translation in Regional Congresses, the answer was that if they were IRPA-sponsored, Regional Congresses should be open to all members in the world: where more than one language is proposed, then some sessions (not all!)should be available in English. The Congress Prospectus should make it clear what sessions are offered in what language

Action 20

According to the Treasurer, a regional congress can ask for financial support from the Montreal Fund provided young professionals were accepted.

IRPA Guiding Principles

The status of the Guiding Principles on Radiation Protection Culture was presented by the Executive Officer with a Road Map for the period spanning 2012-2014. It is now an ongoing process that was initiated in Buenos Aires in 2008. The objective was to give visibility to the fundamentals of RP (science and values), promote radiation risk awareness and embed RP in a process of RP culture delivering performance.

The idea was to post the new project on line shortly after the November EC meeting in order to gather fresh feedback from the various societies, with a view to presenting these guiding principles at regional congresses due to take place in 2014. All this will provide an opportunity for celebrating the 50th IRPA anniversary. To make sure the ASs answer, they will be given a deadline for comments. From this point on, the request from the Executive Officer was to have any change added onto the original document. The recent Vice-President’s comments have been integrated into the document, which was clearly making good progress even if it was still drafted by 4 different groups. To add to the readability, the flow could be improved with track changes. It would be better to use the term ‘should’ rather than ‘must’. A comment from the Vice President is that there was still no section on the roles of ASs and that there was still some material on public and public communication whereas this type of information should be in another guideline. Ana Maria Bomben thanked the Executive Officer for the significant effort. Sigurður Magnùsson asked if the reference of ‘Consider following the NRC-style approach to develop a policy statement on radiation protection culture (p9)’ could be included.

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Action 43Action 21Action 22Action 23

This was followed by a discussion on projects for new guiding principles, including that of the SRP on security of sources, for which SRP will take the lead. According to the Executive Officer, this topic is important for the future of IRPA, and IRPA should therefore nominate a liaison officer. However, IRPA has to be careful by making it clear that it is not a duplication of what IAEA and ICRP have already done. There was a long discussion as to the advantages of IRPA supporting such an initiative.

Christopher Clement suggested having a progress report posted on the website. Nevertheless, this group should not be seen to give security advice. According to Jong Kim, Korea is currently a member of a WINS group developing a guideline on nuclear security of highly radioactive sources in the medical sector. Also, the President recently attended a workshop on raising awareness in blood irradiation facilities, with the involvement of all stakeholders. In conclusion, all EC members agreed to support this initiative.

Action 24

IRPA Working Group on Certification and Qualifications for Radiation Protection Experts

The status of this initiative was presented and after discussion between the EC members, it was agreed to go ahead with it in spite of its challenging time scale. Eduardo Gallego will be the link to the EC. He suggested that the European initiatives (ENETRAP, EUTERP, etc.) could be a good reference for this WG. The present membership of the group should be widen to other regions of the world – Asia, Africa and South America – to collect and reflect what IRPA could recommend for a certification process, and what could be the role of the IRPA associate societies (AS) not just in “western” countries.

Action 25Action 26

Implementation of new eye dose limit

SRP in conjunction with the Italian AS have agreed to develop terms of reference for guidance on this topic. According to Sigurður Magnùsson, there was already a project going on at the IAEA to develop a TECDOC considering the implementation of new dose limits to lens of the eye to be published in September 2013. Since it is such a short time frame until September, when the IAEA’s initial draft is ready, it can be circulated to IRPA for comments. If there was a meeting for the revision of the document, there would also be the possibility of involving IRPA.

Unfortunately, the notice on this initiative was sent to the Presidents’ e-mail address at the IAEA, which means that it was not received in time for discussion during the November 2012 EC meeting. The idea was to have a finalized report with preliminary recommendations for consultation by 19 April 2013. The Associate Societies need sufficient time to provide their comments. The Vice President suggested accepting that offer. According to Christopher Clement, it would be no burden on IRPA, as it was going to be an IRPA project with resources from SRP and the Italian AS, which would give access to IRPA’s ASs. The value

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of this joint effort is that it would be gathering feedback from various ASs. The President added that IRPA should bring in the views of the ASs though IRPA cannot deal with the science. The President will be the link with the EC.

Action 27 Action 28

Education and training

There was a proposal for Eduardo Gallego and Christopher Clement to improve the presentation of the IRPA refresher course section on the website with implementation of the online database on E&T events and resources, including current status and next steps. Christopher Clement suggested waiting until mid-January when the new website would be running. Eduardo Gallego asked for this section to be tested sometime before, i.e. around Christmas.

Action 29

The priorities for the education and training action plan have to be adopted by the Executive Council / Task Group (with potential members of SRP, SFRP, FV, JHPS, HPS,…) with a view to developing the IRPA action plan on education and training, including terms of reference and final composition.

In this regard, the Glasgow Congress was a first positive experience. Even if some of the courses did not provide any feedback, the attendees expressed their overall satisfaction with the content of the courses and asked for provision of timely handouts. This was the biggest issue that came through in the questionnaire: if the fee for the course is 30£ or more, the expectation is to receive a handout. The questionnaire itself was considered appropriate even though the first line with the title of course was missing. IRPA should continue doing these evaluations of training.

Action 30

During the Glasgow Conference, Sven Nagels, (Fachverbandfür Strahlenschutz) was asked in a discussion to set up a Young Professional Group. A very good proposal has been put forward. However, it will be necessary to sort between ideas and select the best ones as not all are mature enough to be submitted to the EC. A higher level of involvement of Young Professionals in IRPA will be sought, for instance with young delegates present in each delegation. For this purpose, Alfred Hefner was appointed as a liaison officer with the support of Eduardo Gallego.

Action 31

The suggestion was made to invite Sven Nagels for a presentation of a progress report at the 2014 EC meeting. Another good idea would be to bring in young professionals to the EC. Since the 2014 meeting will take place in Kuala Lumpur, this presentation should be either simply a written report or a videoconference.

Action 32

International stakeholder engagement

IAEA - RASSC

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The President received an official invitation from the IAEA to have IRPA attend RASSC meetings as an observer and asked for support from other EC members if she could not attend the meetings. It is important to be present as these meetings could be used to convey messages on behalf of the RP community. The IAEA is also sending invitations for topical issues (i.e. lens of the eye), which can be discussed in various task groups. It was suggested that it would be a good idea for Alfred Hefner to attend the IAEA General Assembly and to represent IRPA visibly. This item will be put on the agenda of the next EC meeting with a discussion on material to be used for IRPA publicity, such as an electronic poster that everybody can use, to be printed before attending a meeting.

NEA – CRPPH

According, to the President, IRPA should be present at NEA – CRPPH meetings and she intends to continue this attendance actively. Ted Lazlo has been informed of it and he will be sending an invitation. IRPA could make presentations on our current work.

As regards the Group of Experts on the European Commission Article 31, IRPA received a late invitation as it was initially sent to the former Executive Officer, Jacques Lochard. IRPA answered with a request to be notified of meetings well ahead of time.

Action 33

ICRP – ICRP Committee 4

The Executive Officer presented his report on this topic. The President received information and a letter from ICRP in which IRPA was asked to become a liaison entity. Instead of having observers, the decision was made to invite a liaison officer acting as a single point of contact in each of the organizations, who will be invited to discuss topical issues. Starting in 2013, the EC members agreed that there will be regular ‘high level’ meetings with an invitation to IRPA’s President.

The President will send a letter to ICRP Scientific Officer accepting this new assignment and indicating that the Executive Officer will be IRPA’s contact with ICRP. Participation at different committee meetings will be decided by the president.

As a result of this meeting, the Executive Officer received several messages indicating how nice it was to have IRPA present and have the voice of RP professionals. The President said that she understood this streamlining of ICRP modus operandi with IRPA looking forward to a very good cooperation: ICRP can be sure that IRPA will bring its expertise at all level.

ICRU

According to the Treasurer, IRPA is paying $2000 annually but getting no feedback.

Action 35

ICNIRP

The President received a letter from the ICNIRP Chairman for closer cooperation with IRPA and will send a formal answer indicating that IRPA is interested in improving the current cooperation.

Action 35

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There followed a discussion on IRPA’s involvement in activities by UNSCEAR, ILO and other organizations.

WHO

IRPA is in contact with Maria Peres at WHO and PAHO on the topic of RP culture.

Action 36

To close out on the topic of IRPA’s cooperation with international organizations, the EC members decided that it would be the main topic of the next EC meeting.

Cooperation with professional organizations

The President presented the status of various cooperative efforts with professional organizations.

IOMP

The EC discussed a proposal for IOMP/IRPA cooperation in developing countries (EC61-12 and EC61-13). Richard Vetter was appointed by the President as the liaison officer with IOMP.

Action 37Action 38

The Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging / Image Gently calls for cooperation with IRPA. There has been no Memorandum of Understanding so far but IRPA has indicated its agreement. Unless the past-President did not sign the agreement, IRPA adhered to the Alliance in 2010 as it was decided during EC-60 in Nairobi

This was considered as a very efficient initiative and the issue was to decide whether more should be done in this area. All these organizations want is IRPA’s name so that they can say that IRPA supports what they do. The EC agreed to support this initiative.

IRPA 2028 in the USA

IRPA strongly encourages the HPS to organize an international congress in the US. Among the possible venues on the East or West Coast, Washington would be expensive and Orlando could be a choice. After researching a few questions such as potential venues, the Ad Hoc Committee will recommend that HPS appoint a committee to develop a bid. The President then suggested that the US make a strong bid in 2016 for 2024, by sending a formal letter to IRPA’s President. The President thanked Richard Vetter and the HPS for the development of their proposal by saying that IRPA would welcome a bid for 2024.

HPS is organizing an IRPA workshop on ethics in 2014 with an opportunity to invite ICRP to participate and some countries in South America.

Action 39

Dick Toohey and Thiagan Pather volunteered to provide support to the ethics group. A workshop on ethics organized by KARP will be held in Korea at the end of August 2014.

Richard Vetter and Dick Toohey presented a progress report on the cooperation with the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH)and on the way forward concerning

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the North America Workshop on Ethics (HPS, IRPA, ICRP,...). There was also a further discussion on IRPA’s new Strategic Plan, an item which will be on the agenda of next EC meeting after its finalization.

The organizational and financial implications of the implementation of the IRPA 2012-2016 Strategic Plan and associated action plan will be presented and discussed at the next EC meeting after finalization of IRPA’s strategic plan.

This was followed by a discussion on using Association and Conference Management Services for operating IRPA. Dick Toohey asked if IRPA wanted to hire a professional entity for day-to-day business or for the management of international congresses. Another issue was to decide whether IRPA wants to maintain the current situation where the individual host country organizes its Congress on its own behalf. According to Sigurður Magnùsson, the issue should be considered well before 2016. Christopher Clement suggested having this item on the agenda of one of the next meetings as it is a big issue. Eduardo Gallego indicated that it would be preferable to prepare a congress with a local entity. Based on past experience, it is better to have somebody that is located next to the Executive Officer. The question was to know what could be achieved with a professional organization and at what cost, in order to relieve the Executive Officer of his workload. The Vice President stated that everybody should have the new Congrex report and should read it. To which statement Thiagan Pather answered that in terms of preference, the local host organization should contact the local PCO of their choice.

Advertising on the IRPA Web Site

According to Christopher Clement, when considering advertising on the IRPA website, anything is technically feasible. The issue was to decide whether IRPA does want to allow advertising and what would be the benefit for IRPA as it is quite obvious that the financial benefit would be limited. It is also possible that it would detract Associate Societies from advertising. In conclusion, Christopher Clement recommended to not advertise on the IRPA website.

Action 40Action 41

Arrangements for the 65th EC meeting 2013 and 66thEC meeting 2014

Before a final decision will be taken on the venue of the next EC meeting ( planned for Rio de Janeiro) the costs have to be checked. Ana Maria Bomben was requested to organize the meeting in particular considering the financial boundaries of the meeting. There was a discussion that if the next IRPA EC meeting was in Malaysia rather than in Geneva, there would be an opportunity to meet with local delegates (such as India) and IRPA could deliver its message to those societies. The 66th EC meeting will take place in Malaysia.

General Comments

It was reminded that, as a general rule, documents or information from the EC should not be circulated to the Associate Societies, as long as there is no agreement by IRPA’s President and Executive .

It was also reminded that EC members are committed to respond and provide feedback whenever other EC members ask for their advice on strategic issues.

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As a general rule, as long as there is no agreement by IRPA’s President and Executive Officer information should not be circulated to the Associate Societies After all topics on the agenda had been addressed, the President closed the 64th EC meeting.

News update:Since the EC meeting in Berlin and for cost reasons, the decision has been made to postpone the EC65 until the summer of 2013. The exact location of the EC65 has not yet been finalised. The decision was also made to hold the 2014 EC66 in Kuala Lumpur.

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ACTIONS OF THE 64th EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF IRPA

ACTION 1 ETRAP Conference, March 12-15, 2012 in ViennaAlfred and Eduardo to prepare report on ETRAP conference, March 12-15, 2012 in Vienna (to be posted on website)

ACTION 2ETRAP Conference, March 12-15, 2012 in ViennaAlfred and Eduardo to prepare report to EC on administrative outcome of the ETRAP Conference, to be held March 12-15, 2012 in Vienna (Deadline : for 65th EC meeting)

ACTION 3STAR ALLIANCE CongressEduardo to prepare short information on the outcome of STAR ALLIANCE Workshop

ACTION 4ICRP (feedback after Fukushima)Christopher to review and provide feedback to EC on 18 issues and 11 recommendations for further work with IRPA, providing it has added value, and to post the document on IRPA EC section (Deadline : EC65).

ACTION 5ICRP (feedback after Fukushima)RP Issues Group to read the report on this topic and come back with suggestions for IRPA for the next EC meeting.

ACTION 6Admissions CommitteeRoger to approach the countries where there is currently no society (with Bolivia, Ecuador – has no, Panama – had and no longer has) and provide feedback on this effort(Deadline : for 65th EC meeting).

ACTION 7Preparation of IRPA14 Thiagan to take due note of the EC comments and Rogers’s advice for preparation of IRPA14 and provide feedback to the next EC meeting.

ACTION 8Montreal Fund CommitteeDick Toohey to write a 1-page document explaining the rights of the Montreal Fund Committee (paragraph 6.2.4 in IRPA’s Constitution).

ACTION 9Bo Lindell’s translationSig: to devise advertising on IRPA website for Bo Lindell’s translation, with indication that English translation of first volume is ongoing, Spanish translation of first volume

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completed, and hoping that Alfred will take back the idea of translating the 4th volume into German.

ACTION 10Bo Lindell’s translationSig to send bank information to Dick Toohey for transfer of IRPA’s contribution to Bo Lindell’s translation.

ACTION 11Updated IRPA websiteAll EC members to use the new updated IRPA website in a week or 2, and to feedback to Christopher on any possible bugs.

ACTION 12Commission on Publications All EC members to provide comments on terms of reference sent by Christopher for ‘Commission on Publications’ (Deadline : end of January).

ACTION 13IRPA leafletBernard to update and post updated IRPA leaflet on the website.

ACTION 14Young Professional candidatesAlfred to prepare document on appointment of Young Professional candidates (Deadline : end of January).

ACTION 15IRPA Publication reportChristopher to prepare a report on IRPA Actions to be submitted in Rio, as he is not able to attend 65thEC meeting in Rio.

ACTION 16EC meeting in RioAna Maria to organise EC members’ formalities + hotels for EC meeting in Rio (from Friday to Monday morning).and provide information to the Executive Officer.

ACTION 17EC meeting in OttawaBernard to prepare spreadsheet on logistical arrangements to be sent to EC (for incorporation of dates and travel details).

ACTION 18Regional Congress in RabatThiagan to follow up with Morocco Regional Congress in Rabat and to become a member of the organizing committee.

ACTION 19

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Regional Congress in RabatRenate to contact Abdelmajid CHOUKRI, Association Marocaine de Radioprotection, [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]


ACTION 20Involvement of IRPA in Regional CongressesRenate (and Bernard) to prepare a MOU for the 2014 Regional Congresses and to send a letter to host organisations with MOU, including what they expect from IRPA and what IRPA expects from them.

ACTION 21Guiding Principles for Establishing a Radiation Protection CultureRichard V. to check if more specific indication on medical culture can be added.

ACTION 22 Guiding Principles for Establishing a Radiation Protection CultureAll EC members to send comments and changes to Bernard (Deadline end of December). New version to be posted on IRPA website beginning of January.

ACTION 23Guiding Principles for Establishing a Radiation Protection CultureBernard to send email to ASs advising them that the new version will be posted on the website for their comments by 15th March.

ACTION 24Guidance on security of sourcesBernard to send an official letter to SRP indicating that Roger has been appointed as liaison officer with SRP and asking them to develop their terms of reference and schedule of deadlines.

ACTION 25Guidance on certification of radiation safety specialistsEduardo, appointed as liaison officer, to inform the WG of the EC decision.

ACTION 26Guidance on certification of radiation safety specialistsBernard to contact Ken Kase and ask him about his intended involvement in the WG.

ACTION 27Implementation of new eye dose limitRoger to make sure that the various work places are specified in the guide and to instruct SRP to change its terms of reference, starting with implementation of dosimetry, considering the various work places and adding in its conclusion what the impact will be. (Deadline for providing revised terms of reference: mid December) for finalisation by 11th January.

ACTION 28Implementation of new eye dose limitAll EC members to take the message back to their own society that the EC is working on this issue and that the ASs will be asked for comments very soon.

ACTION 29Education database

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Eduardo to send Christopher the link and contact details of the IT firm that developed the database.

ACTION 30Education and trainingEduardo to send finalised schedule and to prepare terms of reference (Deadline: end of December).

ACTION 31Young ProfessionalsAlfred to inform Sven Nagels that proposal is accepted and to ask for development of terms of reference developed, with indication of who will participate and who will contribute. (Deadline: end of February).

ACTION 32Young ProfessionalsAll EC members to prepare summary document on what their expectations from this YP Group are.

ACTION 33IRPA’s participation in international meetingsAll EC members to indicate if they volunteer to participate in international meetings with clear details (deadline February 2013).

ACTION 34ICRPRenate to send letter to Christopher with agreement on new ICRP assignment, with indication that IRPA’s President will be the primary IRPA contact with ICRP.

ACTION 35ICRU and ICNIRPAll EC Members to give their opinion on current IRPA work with ICRU and ICNIRP and added value and what IRPA expects from both organisations (Deadline: 15th

February):

ACTION 36Renate to develop a paper on International institution to be discussed at next EC meeting.

ACTION 37IOMP/IRPA agreementRenate to send Bernard an official copy of IOMP agreement for IRPA archives.

ACTION 38Co-operation with IOMPRichard V. to develop a set of suggestions for practical actions, possible joint leaflet, statement on topical issues, etc.

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ACTION 39HPS workshopDick Toohey to provide Renate, appointed the lead on ethics-related work, with topics for the future HPS workshop on this topic (Deadline : end of January).

ACTION 40MiscellaneousChristopher to develop a business card model (Deadline : mid January)

ACTION 41MiscellaneousBernard to provide IRPA letterhead template and other templates to Christopher.

ACTION 42North American workshop on ethics and stakeholders’ involvementDick T. to prepare a statement on the purpose and scope of these meetings. (Deadline : January or February 2014).

ACTION 43Guiding Principles on Radiation Protection Culture Eduardo to ask Fernando Gonzalez to prepare a short descriptive text on the Spanish appendix with diagram.

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Minutes of the 63th 63Executive Council of IRPA Ref : IRPA ...3AACE155-1D12-4E4C-AB… · Web viewThe President, Ms. Renate Czarwinski, opened the session at 9 am on Thursday, 29th

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