Implementation of Radiation Protection Expert (RPE) and Radiation Protection Officer (RPO) Requirements of Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom

The HERCA guidance that was approved by the HERCA Board on 2017, Nov. 3rd, provides Member States with a common understanding regarding the specific requirements on RPE and RPO as described in the Euratom BSS directive. This guidance also enables Member States to compare their national interpretation of RPE and RPO with other HERCA Member States. The guidance constitutes a framework for exchanging and converging toward a common understanding on education and training in radiation protection.

The basis of the HERCA guidance on the implementation of RPE and RPO is the Euratom BSS Directive. For each requirement of the Directive, possibilities in the implementation thereof were explored and described in this guidance document, which would ultimately lead to a common understanding. Relevant existing documents such as those from IAEA, ENETRAP III, HERCA Workshop and IRPA were used to describe these possibilities in implementation and are separately sited in the text. 

HERCA Members are now working on country fact sheets that will provide information on the national approaches taken in RPE and RPO implementation in each Member State in a uniform lay-out.