Radiation protection officer

Preface

In the Dutch system of supervision on applications of ionizing radiation we have Radiation Protection Experts (RPE) (Dutch: coördinerend deskundige or CD) and Radiation Protection Officers (RPO) (Dutch: toezichthouder stralingsbescherming or TS). As of February 6, 2018 a completely revised system of training for RPO has been introduced. The bottom line of this revision is that the training for RPO must be application specific.

Available courses

The Groningen Academy for Radiation Protection (GARP) offers the following courses for RPO:

• THK-basic for conventional dental radiology
• THK-cbct for dental radiology with Conebeam CT
• MT for medical applications (simple radiology)
• MR-T for measurement and control application with X-ray equipment and (simple) accelerators
• MR-B for measurement and control applications with sealed radioactive sources
• VRS-B for applications of dispersible radioactive materials up to a maximum of 2000 Re_inhalation
• VRS-C for applications of dispersible radioactive materials up to a maximum of 20 Re_inhalation under the responsibility of an RPE
• VRS-D for applications of dispersible radioactive materials up to a maximum of 0.2 Re_inhalation under the responsibility of an RPE

The courses MT and MR-T, and VRS-D and MR-B can be combined. Most courses are offered with or without lectures. In all cases practicals are an obligatory part of the course, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Legally defined areas (Dutch abbreviations) and the number of levels

The application areas listed below are established in the new educational system. For some areas, there is more than one level of training.