Latest news: Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)/Industrial Radiography Working Group Meeting
January 13, 2011 – Mississauga, Ontario
Attendees (Mississauga)
Alan Brady (TISI)
André Régimbald (CNSC)
François Rodier (Labcan)
Henry Rabski (CNSC)
Eric Fortier (CNSC)
Peter Fundarek (CNSC)
Attendees (Calgary)
Tom Levey (Acuren)
Rick Debruyn (Aztec Inspection)
Peter Larkin (CNSC)
Absent
Joel Kish (Inspectrum)
Chris Spencer (Spencer Manufacturing)
Karen M. Mayer (CNSC)
Chair of the meeting
Alan Brady
Co-Chair
Henry Rabski
1) Commencement of the meeting
Meeting Started at 9:30 am Eastern Time with Alan Brady from TISI welcoming those in attendance. A new agenda was proposed and accepted.
2) Review of last meeting’s action list and minutes
The last meeting’s minutes are approved. They will be translated and posted on the CNSC website.
The working group proceeded to review the action list (see new list attached).
3) CEDO project update
Henry updated the group on the project. A description of services provided by CSA was distributed. The plan is to have the project completed by the end of 2011.
CNSC will provide whatever technical support this project needs. It will also identify people from the industry. CSA would provide the secretary and administrative support for the project.
Structure of the committee: Committee of up to 25 people (subject matter experts, trainers, clients, provincial, national organizations like CIRSA…)
- one chairman (outstanding reputation in the industry so it brings credibility to the committee)
- two co-chairs , two manufacturers, up to three oil and gas industry,
- one trainer (Training industry) three CIRSA members, two independent of the industry,
- one consultant from the industry, one consultant from the energy board.
From the CNSC one representative from the following divisions:
- Transport Licensing and Strategic Support Division
- Operation Inspection Division, Nuclear Substance and Radiation Devices
- Licensing Division, Personal Certification Division
- Strategies Program and Learning Division
Commitment from participant: probably three to four meetings of a couple of days each (30 – 40 days full time effort expected). The meetings will likely be held in Ontario, CSA has offices in Mississauga. Participants will have to cover their own expenses.
After the project is done, there will also be an annual meeting to maintain the standard and make appropriate changes.
The document produced will not be legally binding for licensees. It will replace G-229 and be the standard by which the examination will be based on and by which CEDO cards issued.
There were questions on the transition period between the two standards, grandfathering clauses… all of this will be discuss with CSA during the development of the standard.
4) Radiography equipment discussion
What can the working group do to be a positive influence on equipment providers and maintainers?
The suppliers in Canada are:
- QSA
- Best Medical Belgium
- Spencer
- INC
- SPEC
The group suggested inviting suppliers to the next meeting to discuss what they are doing to address radiation security/safety and improvements to equipment used. No sales pitch!
A proposal was made by and industry representative to lower the highest allowable source activity permitted to be used in Canada. CNSC will communicate with USNJRJC and other regulators of the world to check what is done in industry internationally. CNSC will look at SSTS to see what licensees are loading in their devices (big or small sources).
CIRSA will build the case to see what its member thinks about lowering the maximum permissible source activity.
There is a new TLD available in Canada but not certified; Alan Brady proposed to have a representative attend the next meeting and make a presentation.
Tom Levey proposed applying for a development and testing device for trying a small tungsten shielded exposure device from Europe.
Emergency kits: CIRSA has a list of equipment to form an emergency kit that they recommend to their members. Those kits contain but are not limited to: binoculars, dremmel tools, pliers, lead shot bags, ropes, extra dosimeters, set of tongs, laser pointer, mirror, allen wrenches, cheat sheet, sheet you can record time and doses, camera. The industry side will come up with a list of mandatory and optional tools in the kit. CIRSA has recommended to their members a very comprehensive kit, but the objective will be to put forth a proposed kit of essential tools as a guide for licensees. The CNSC will consider whether there is a need to make any such kit mandatory.
5) Planning of the CNSC 2011 annual meetings
Last years annual meetings were well received by attendees both in Western and Eastern Canada. The agenda was varied in content and provided participants with current information and ideas to improve safety and compliance. Working group members played a key role in the presentations and preparation of the meetings. The CRPA Conference is planned to be held May 8 – 12, 2011 in Ottawa to take advantage of this Western Canada May 25, 2011 in Nisku, Alberta. This would coincide with the CIRSA meeting in Nisku on May 26th.
Some topics proposed by working group members for the annual meetings were:
- security presentation (by Nuclear Security Division)
- financial Guarantees
- CEDO projects update
- update on Radiography Compliance Performance Data
- case study – Present an incident followed by an open discussion
- technical discussion (Danatec: demo of TDG training )
- equipment manufacturer(s) – safety elements to consider
- source retrieval kits
- update on RD/GD-352
The CNSC will make the necessary arrangements and the radiography group will promote the meetings.
The chair and co-chair will finalize and agenda in the coming weeks.
6) Other business
The terms of reference of the working group were reviewed by the members. There was consensus that the terms still apply.
Ideas proposed for future topics are:
- consistency of CNSC inspectors – how are they trained?
- CNSC president has responded to the requirement for barriers in previous correspondence
- access to industry GPS data to assist in performing unannounced field inspections
There was a discussion regarding the videoconference format used in the past two meetings. The consensus was that the approach works fine when there are no presentations. If there is a presentation during the meeting it is preferable to have a face-to-face meeting. Timing of the breaks and the working lunch is difficult due to the time difference of two hours.
Status of committee membership was reviewed. A potential change to the representative from the east and a confirmation of interest of one of the western representatives will be addressed. The membership of the committee still has a vacancy that can be filled by a CEDO. Preferably a CEDO will be indentified from a radiography company currently not participating in the working group.
Next meeting: Proposals were made for a March of September meeting. No decision was made.
Actions list
The following are the actions that are closed and that are arising from the September 2010 working group meeting held in Ottawa and via video conference with members in Calgary.
| Radiography working group – Action list | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RWG Item # | Description | Assigned person(s) | Status or due date |
| 09(WGM – 10) 3.0 | Communications | ||
| Priority 1A CIRSA will develop an incident report form that they can distribute to the industry all incidents reported to the CNSC. | A. Brady | CLOSED | |
| Priority 2 Development of a network strategy to consult with the Industry not just CIRSA members. | A. Brady | CLOSED | |
| Priority 4 CNSC posting on their website the list of all special forms certificates and package designs. | A. Regimbald | CLOSED | |
| Compliance | |||
| 09(WGM – 10) 3.0 | Priority 1 CNSC to conduct a workshop on TDG requirements as part of the CNSC annual meetings, Nisku and Ottawa 2010. | A. Regimbald | CLOSED |
| 09(WGM – 10) 4.0 | Priority 2 Update to the 2009 compliance data was requested by Industry. Draft report prepared and to be distributed by December 2010. | H. Rabski | CLOSED |
| Priority 3 Conduct a workshop on developing TDG training program for Class 7 to meet requirements and obligations. S. Hunt made a presentation at Nisku in May and two others interested in working with CIRSA. | A. Brady | CLOSED | |
| Communications | |||
| 11(RWG – 11)02 | Priority 3 Sharing of best practices, tools, etc... | A. Brady | CLOSED |
| 10(RWG – 01)5.0 | CEDO certification process/program CSA made a presentation regarding a project to revise G-229. CNSC to move foreword to attain management approval for the development of the project. Meeting held – September 30, 2010 | H. Rabski | CLOSED |
| 10(RW6 – 09)4.0 | CEDO survey Verification of respondents to the survey prepared by CIRSA | A. Brady | CLOSED |
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