Adaptation of the legislation of Ukraine on radiation protection and informing the population in the event of a radiation accident to the legislation of the European Union
Authors: Balyuk G. , Pozniak E. 
Published: September 2024

informing the population, which may be affected in the event of a radiation accident, to the legislation of the European Union. The subject of the study was the provisions of nuclear, environmental and other branches of legislation, international, foreign and EU legislation, as well as scientific-theoretical and practical ideas, views and approaches to solving legal problems of ensuring radiation safety, radiation protection and informing the general public about health protection measures , to be taken and actions to be taken in the event of a radiation accident. The object of the study is public environmental, nuclear, radiation and other relations that arise in the event of a radiation accident and informing the population in case of danger, as well as regulated by the norms of national and international legislation. The problems of ensuring radiation and nuclear safety of the population rank first among the priority issues of ensuring peace in Ukraine and in the world. One of the directions of legal reform in Ukraine is the development of domestic legislation and its convergence with EU legislation as one of the conditions for Ukraine’s integration into the European Union. The importance, priority and relevance of the adaptation of the legislation of Ukraine in the field of the use of nuclear energy and radiation safety to the EU legislation is determined, first of all, by the importance of informing the population that may be affected in the event of a radiation accident, receiving information about health protection measures that concern them, as well as about their actions in case of such an accident. These issues became especially active after the russian federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The main legal documents in Ukraine for ensuring radiation safety, radiation protection of the population and personnel are the laws of Ukraine “On the use of nuclear energy and radiation safety” dated February 8, 1995, “On human protection from the effects of ionizing radiation” dated January 14, 1998, Standards of radiation safety of Ukraine (NRBU - 97), approved by the resolution of the Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine on December 1, 1997, Basic sanitary rules for ensuring radiation safety of Ukraine (OSPU - 2005), approved by the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine dated February 2, 2005 No. 54, order of the State of the Committee on Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine “On approval of the Radiation Accident Response Plan” dated May 17, 2004. These normative acts define a number of legal categories, in particular, the concept of “radiation accident”. At the time of the adoption of domestic national legal acts, Council directives 89/618/ EURATOM, 90/641/EURATOM, 96/29/EURATOM, 97/43/EURATOM and 2003/122/EURATOM were already in force in EU member states. Since then, Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM of December 5, 2013 was adopted, which established basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation, and also terminated the validity of these directives. Certain provisions of this directive were implemented in some legislative acts in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Use of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Safety”, in particular, in terms of the introduction of the Institute of Radiation Protection Expert, which should contribute to increasing the effectiveness of radiation protection protection of personnel and population. In our opinion, the decision to introduce the said institute is premature, since the main provisions of the Directive on radiation protection have not been adopted, and the expert institute should focus on them. The authors positively evaluate the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as a whole of the draft law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Protection of Humans from the Effects of Ionizing Radiation.” The draft law defines a number of basic terms related to radiation safety, in particular: “emergency situation”; “equivalent dose”; “dose limit”; “situation of emergency, existing and planned exposure” etc. In addition, the following are established: limit doses in the situation of planned exposure; effective and equivalent dose limits for personnel and the public”; basic protection and safety measures for medical radiation; defined reference levels for situations of existing and emergency exposure, as well as reference levels of the average annual concentration of radon activity in indoor air for the permanent presence of people at workplaces.
According to the authors, synchronous work should be carried out on the development of new radiation safety standards, which should establish new radiation hygiene regulations both for practical activities and for intervention, in particular, in the event of a radiation accident. In the conditions of modern realities, the probability of the realization of nuclear and radiation threats to the national security of Ukraine and global security in general in the conditions of large-scale Russian aggression has increased sharply. There is a need to continue Ukraine’s political consultations with the EU, the Group of Seven member states within the framework of the “Global Partnership against the Proliferation of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction” initiative, the IAEA, and other international organizations on nuclear and radiation security issues, not only during the period of martial law in Ukraine, and after its completion.