Standard for premises—ionising radiation sources (2021) (Queensland)

Table of Contents

1. Source documents

2. Authority and jurisdiction

  • Queensland radiation safety standard made under s 16 of the Radiation Safety Act 1999 and identified in Schedule 1 of the 2021 Standards Notice. The Act supplies the premises compliance and certificate duties; the Regulation supplies the prescribed certificate period.
  • The document's title is Standard for premises—ionising radiation sources (2021). PR100 was used for earlier editions (including PR100:2010 and PR100:2020); the official 2021 cover and Notice do not use that code. The supplied THHS RSPP still says “PR100:2021”; quote it when describing that controlled document, but use the current official title when naming the standard. A correction to the RSPP requires its document-control process.
  • The standard states an expiry of 31 August 2031; this is not a substitute for checking whether a later instrument has changed its status.

3. Key takeaways

  • The 2021 Queensland premises standard is the direct statutory minimum for relevant radiation therapy rooms and HDR remote-afterloading rooms. Its general tests apply alongside the practice-specific tests.
  • Section 2.1.1 tests potential total effective dose in defined accessible areas, accounting for source orientation, workload, occupancy and radiation type. Its weekly test criteria are premises compliance criteria, not patient-dose limits or universal shielding design goals.
  • Sections 3.3 and 3.4 test distinct warning, communication, interlock, last-person-out and emergency-off arrangements for external-beam radiation therapy and HDR/PDR remote afterloading respectively.
  • An accredited person's compliance assessment and current certificate provide formal evidence; the possession licensee also has an ongoing duty to maintain compliance between assessments.
  • National and international documents help with design method and defence in depth, but no direct adoption of a particular shielding calculation report by this standard is asserted here.

4. Summary

4.1. Section 1 — General

  • Defines premises and exclusions, technical terms such as radiation source room and control area, and the standard's stated expiry.

4.2. Section 2.1 — Principal requirements for covered premises

  • Test 2.1.1 limits the total effective dose an individual could receive from the practice in the room being assessed to 10 µSv per week in a Type 1 area and 40 µSv per week in Type 2 or Type 3 areas. Type 1 includes accessible areas outside the source room used by the public or occupationally exposed people not involved in the licensee's practice; Type 2 is normally occupied by the licensee's occupationally exposed staff outside the source room; Type 3 is a protected area within the source room. Use the full definitions and assumptions in the official table.
  • Tests 2.1.2–2.1.3 address entrance warning labels and display of RSO contact information, with stated exceptions for some access arrangements.

4.3. Sections 3.1–3.2 — Radioactive-substance storage and medical-imaging premises

  • Add tests for substance storage, including external dose rate, gas, compatibility, cleanability/spill containment and security; medical-imaging premises add illuminated warnings and operator observation/communication where applicable.
  • Scope the imaging tests to the actual apparatus and premises; a radiotherapy imaging room and a treatment bunker need not have identical practice-specific tests.

4.4. Section 3.3 — Ionising-radiation apparatus used for radiation therapy

  • Applies in addition to Section 2 for external-beam radiation therapy premises; it expressly excludes brachytherapy from this section.
  • Test 3.3.1 requires distinguishable illuminated entrance warnings for preparatory and beam-on states, plus visible and audible warnings inside the room; specified failure responses are part of the test.
  • Tests 3.3.2–3.3.3 require patient observation/communication and shielding-door/entrance interlocks that stop exposure when broken without automatic beam restart.
  • Tests 3.3.4–3.3.6 cover a timed, audible last-person-out arrangement, safe treatment of rooms within rooms, and a clearly labelled, accessible emergency-off switch.

4.5. Section 3.4 — HDR/PDR remote-afterloading brachytherapy premises

  • Applies in addition to Section 2; its source-position and dose-rate tests differ from the external-beam tests.
  • Test 3.4.1 includes a 25 µGy in one hour criterion measured 30 cm from accessible areas external to the room, excluding source transit between afterloader and patient; read its exact geometry and conditions before applying it.
  • Tests 3.4.2–3.4.7 cover fixed room monitoring and source-position warnings, patient observation/communication, interlocks that return the source to shielding, last-person-out control, rooms within rooms and emergency-off access.

4.6. Sections 3.5–3.8 — Other practices

  • Add practice-specific tests for industrial radiography, irradiators, nuclear medicine/radiopharmaceutical production and other premises using unsealed radioactive substances. Apply only where the relevant practice is actually in scope.

5. Important definitions, roles, limits and records

Type 1, 2 and 3 areas
Standard-specific categories for the premises dose test; do not substitute them directly for every controlled/supervised-area or occupational/public-dose classification.
Possession licensee
Must take reasonable steps to maintain premises compliance at all times when the practice is carried out, not only at the certificate inspection.
Accredited person
Assesses compliance against the tests and issues the certificate through the Queensland process.
Records
Shielding assessment and as-built drawings, occupancy/workload assumptions, acceptance and periodic surveys, interlock/warning/emergency tests, change assessments, accredited assessment report and current certificate.

6. Premises-design sources and their relationship

Source Role in facility design Authority here
ARPANSA RPS C-1 Rev. 1 National planned-exposure framework for facility design, engineered controls, safety assessment and worker/public protection National code; direct Queensland adoption must be identified before calling it a licence condition
ARPANSA RPS 14.3 Radiotherapy-specific advice on shielding specifications, room design, equipment and site controls Non-mandatory Australian guide
ARPANSA RPS C-5 Medical-exposure code connecting facility/equipment suitability, QA and patient safety Prescribed Queensland licence condition for relevant practices; not a replacement for the premises tests
IAEA GSR Part 3 International requirements for safety assessment, source/facility design and occupational/public protection International requirements; not direct Queensland law
IAEA SSG-46 Medical-facility planning and siting, structural shielding and safety-system guidance International safety guide
IAEA Safety Reports Series No. 47 Worked shielding methods for radiotherapy geometry, source terms, workload, use, occupancy, barriers and post-construction surveys International technical report; worked values are examples
  • These documents can inform a design and its evidence. The 2021 Queensland standard and the site's applicable approval/certificate determine the immediate legal test. The relationship is technical context, not proof that Queensland copied or incorporated any specific international calculation method.

7. Practical relationship to the THHS RSPP

  • Supports RSPP premises shielding, restricted access, warning, interlock, emergency-stop and certificate controls. Assess new sources, changes in workload or adjacent occupancy, construction changes and modifications against the current standard and approved local arrangements.
  • The controlled RSPP's “PR100:2021” wording points to this subject but should be corrected to the official 2021 title in a future controlled amendment; this study note does not amend the RSPP itself.

8. See Also