Radiation safety

Last changed: 10 April 2024

SLU has an overall licence for work with ionising radiation. The licence is valid for five 5 years, until 9 February 2027. The supervisory and licensing authority for work with ionising radiation is the Radiation Safety Authority.

The permit applies to work with open radiation sources, closed radiation sources and X-ray equipment.

SLU's permit does not include field trials and work with open radiation sources in toxicity class A. SLU may hold a maximum of 200 GBq of other open radiation sources.

SLU also has an agreement with an external radiation safety officer who provides advice and support on issues concerning radiation safety.

Radiation safety guidelines

The Radiation Safety Committee is responsible for ensuring that an up-to-date list is available of SLU's work on ionising radiation and holding of closed radiation sources. This list then forms the basis for the registry extract that is available at SSM.

New activities and equipment for work with ionising radiation must be reported to the Radiation Safety Committee. Use the address stralsakerhetsexpert@slu.se. Settlement or scrapping of activities or equipment must also be reported. The application must always be made in advance and in consultation with the radiation safety officer.

Staff working with ionising radiation should be assigned either Category A or Category B. Premises where ionising radiation operations take place must be either protected or controlled.

For support, you may contact:

Documents

Guidelines on radiation safety (SLU-1786)

Radiation Safety Committee

The Radiation Safety Committee (SSK) is a staff and management body for the vice-chancellor and the university management to handle the work of ionising radiation within the university. Briefly, the assignment involves supporting SLU operations that work with ionising radiation with guidelines, advice and audits. SSK's work is part of SLU's management system for radiation safety.

The SSK’s current mandate runs from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021.

Members

Chair: Mats Svensson, Environment Unit
Secretary: Christina Larsson, University Animal Hospital
Radiation Safety Officer: Enn Maripuu, Uppsala University Hospital            Member: Margareta Uhlhorn,  University Animal Hospital                              Member: Charles Ley, University Animal Hospital
Member: Johannes Koestel, Department of Soil and Environment

The links below are the basic documents that regulate SSK's role and mission.

Basic decision documents for SSK (in Swedish)

Meeting minutes

Radiation Safety Officer

SLU has access to a Radiation Safety Officer through an agreement with Uppsala University Hospital and by decision of the Radiation Safety Authority.

The role of the radiation safety officer includes:

  • acting as advisor on radiation safety issues;
  • monitoring operations to ensure that laws, regulations and permit conditions are observed;
  • informing about new rules and directives that relate to operations and, if applicable, introduce them into operations;
  • educating staff on radiation safety issues;
  • providing advice when SLU purchases new or replacement equipment and participating in delivery/final inspection.

The basic costs are jointly funded while the department/equivalent concerned pays for any extra services.  

Contact details:

stralsakerhetsexpert@slu.se

The SLU Radiation Safety Officer:
Enn Maripuu
Phn: 018-611 55 60

Alexander Englund
Phn: 018-644 34 94

Documents and links

Radiation safety work is governed by the Radiation Protection Act and the Radiation Protection Regulation and the statutes issued by the Radiation Safety Authority (SSM).

The following governing documents apply to SLU (in Swedish)

Other statutes and laws can be found at SSM's website:
https://www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se/regler/

The following local documents apply

There are several documents for work on radiation safety when working with ionising radiation at SLU. The documents are everything from guidelines to instructions and should be able to serve as a template for your own documentation. Advice and questions about radiation safety are primarily addressed by contacting SLU's radiation safety officer.

For work at UDS, there is a quality manual for scintigraphy and radionuclide therapy as well as for radiology operations.

Local guidelines and instructions

Other documents

Contact

Mats Svensson, Servicechef
Division of Services, Security and Environment, SLU Environment
mats.svensson@slu.se, +46 40 41 50 33, +46 70 243 54 22