No inspection at majority of radiography units: CAG

India's nuclear regulator has not conducted 85% regulatory inspections for industrial radiography and radiotherappy units, which have a high radiation hazard potential, the government auditor said today.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said the consenting process and system for monitoring and renewal were weak in respect of radiation facilities.
In a report on the performance audit of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the CAG said 11 out of 12 research accelerators were operating without valid licences.

As many as 326 of the 436 industrial radiography units and 286 of the 510 Computed Tomography (CT) units were operating without valid licences, said the CAG report which was tabled in Parliament today. Seventy out of 135 Gamma chamber units were functioning without valid authorisations, the report said.

While industrial radiography units have a high radiation hazard potential, CT units pose a medium radiation hazard. The Department of Atomic Energy contended that although formal documents were not being issued as licences, regulatory clearances were being granted to the user institutions at various stages.

The DAE said it had ensured that user institutions had all pre-requisites prior to commencement of the facilities. "AERB was, however, slow in bringing all the radiation users in the country under its regulatory control for the last
eight years. This indicated lack of sufficient manpower and laxity on the part of AERB in institutionalising the processes and enforcing regulatory control on radiation users," the CAG observed.