Northern Territory Consolidated Acts

RADIATION (SAFETY CONTROL) ACT - SECT 3

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears -

"absorbed dose" of any radiation means the amount of energy imparted to matter by ionizing particles per unit of mass of irradiated material at a particular place and is expressed in rads;

"alpha particle" means a corpuscle consisting of the nucleus of a helium atom emitted by a radioactive atomic nucleus;

"beta particle" means a high speed corpuscle having the same mass or charge as the electron or positron and originating from nuclear disintegration;

"Chief Health Officer" means the Chief Health Officer appointed under the Public Health Act ;

"Code of Safe Transport" means the code and any amendments to it approved by the Minister under section 36(1) to apply as the Code of Safe Transport;

"container" means a freight container;

"curie" is the measure of radioactivity and one curie represents an activity of 3.7 x 10 ¹⁰ nuclear transformations per second;

"dose equivalent" is the quantity, measured in rems, which expresses on a common scale for all ionizing radiation the irradiation incurred by exposed matter;

"dose-rate" means the absorbed dose received per unit of time;

"electron" means a high speed subatomic particle or corpuscle which is negatively charged and which originates from an extra-nuclear region of the atom;

"exempted substance" means a substance exempted in pursuance of section 37;

"gamma ray" means an electromagnetic ionizing radiation which originates from the nucleus of an atom but which is not otherwise distinguishable from X-rays;

"handle" includes load, unload, discharge, stack, stow, store, transport and any operation incidental to or arising out of those operations;

"inspector" means an inspector appointed under section 8;

"irradiating apparatus" means an instrument or apparatus that is capable of emitting radiation not originating from a radioactive substance in or on the instrument or apparatus, but does not include -

(a) an instrument or apparatus from which the dose rate to an organ or tissue of a person when situated at a distance 0.1 of a metre from the external surface of the instrument or apparatus does not exceed 0.1 millirem per hour;

(b) an instrument or apparatus in which electrons are accelerated to an energy not exceeding 5000 electron volts; or

(c) a television receiver from which the dose rate to an organ or tissue of a person when situated at a distance of 5 centimetres from the external surface of the receiver does not exceed 0.5 of a millirem per hour;

"licensed premises" means the premises described in a licence issued under this Act;

"licensee" means a person licensed under this Act;

"maximum permissible dose", in relation to a person or a part of the body of a person exposed to radiation, means -

(a) for any quarter of a calendar year - the dose equivalent of the radiation specified in the third column of Part I of Schedule 3 received through the organs or parts of his body specified in the second column of that Part; and

(b) for the period of a calendar year - the dose equivalent of the radiation specified in the third column of Part II of Schedule 3 received through the organs or parts of his body specified in the second column of that Part;

"maximum permissible concentration" means a concentration of a radioactive substance specified in the first column of Schedule 1 -

(a) in air, being that specified in the second column of that Schedule; or

(b) in water, being that specified in the third column of that Schedule,

for the radioactive substance;

"neutron" means a radioactive corpuscle which has no electric charge and has a mass slightly greater than the proton;

"nuclide" means a variety of an atom characterized by a specific atomic number and a specific mass number;

"package" includes a pack, packet, parcel, carton, box or receptacle of any kind that contains a radioactive substance;

"place" and "premises" includes buildings, ships, aircraft, vehicles and any other premises on land or water and all other land, vacant or otherwise whether public or private;

"positron" means a high speed, subatomic particle or corpuscle which is positively charged and which originates from an extra nuclear region of the atom;

"proton" means a nuclear particle of unit mass number having a charge equal to and opposite to that of an electron;

"rad" is the unit of measurement of the absorbed dose and one rad represents the absorbed dose received when energy of 0.01 joule is imparted to one kilogram of irradiated matter;

"radiation" means -

(a) electromagnetic radiation, being X-rays, gamma rays, photons or quanta; or

(b) corpuscular radiation being alpha particles, beta particles, electrons, protons, neutrons and heavy particles capable of causing ionization of matter on which it impinges;

"radiation hazard" means a thing or situation that creates a danger to the health of a person and that arises from exposure of ionizing radiation because of radiation from an external source or from within the body;

"Radiation Safety Officer" means a person appointed to be a Radiation Safety Officer under section 15;

"radiation worker" means a person who receives or is likely to receive radiation in the course of his employment whether from a radioactive substance or from irradiating apparatus;

"radioactive contamination" means the lodgement, attachment or incorporation of a radioactive substance, on, to or in an organ or tissue of a person or on or to any other material or substance;

"radioactive substance" means a substance which consists of or contains radioactive nuclides whether natural or artificial;

"radioactivity" means the spontaneous disintegration of an unstable nuclide with the emission of a particle or proton to form a different nuclide;

"rem" is the unit measurement of dose equivalent and one rem is the dose equivalent when irradiated matter receives an absorbed dose of one rad; and

"X-ray" means electromagnetic, ionizing radiation which originates from the field outside the nucleus of the atom and resulting from the loss of energy of charged particles.

(2) Where in this Act a unit of measurement is used coupled with the prefix "milli" or "micro", the prefix signifies that the measurement referred to is one-thousandth or one-millionth respectively of the unit of measurement.