Woodhouse Michael: Radiation Safety Bill — First ReadingText is subject to correctionWoodhouse Michael: Radiation Safety Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 10 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2078. Text is subject to correction.]Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration)on behalf of theMinister of Health: I move That the Radiation Safety Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Health Committee to consider the bill. The bill will repeal and replace the Radiation Protection Act 1965 and its regulations. It provides a much-needed update to our 50-year-old legislation on radiation safety. To achieve this the bill incorporates best-practice principles in radiation safety. It also enhances security measures that will provide a means for New Zealand to meet its international obligations relating to radioactive material. The bill remains broadly similar in scope to the legislation it is replacing. The bill will regulate the many beneficial applications in which ionising radiation is used on a daily basis in this country.It needs to be recognised that all use of ionising radiation carries some risk of harm. However where the justifiable benefits of using ionising radiation can be demonstrated those benefits should be available for New Zealanders while the risks are managed by applying state-of-the-art safety measures. In fact the majority of uses of ionising radiation in New Zealand are found in the health sector. By far the most well-known beneficial use of radiation is in the medical treatment of a range of cancers and other conditions by radiotherapists and nuclear medicine specialists.An example that people might be familiar with is the treatment of hyperthyroid conditions—or overactive thyroid glands—with small doses of radioactive iodine. This treatment usually involves ingesting the iodine in the form of a drink or capsule. The iodine is taken up by the thyroid gland and the radioactivity destroys some of the overactive cells responsible for the condition. The treatment is very selective in that it targets the thyroid gland and it is relatively permanent. The treatment is widely used for the benefit of many New Zealanders every year.Ionising radiation technology is also behind medical imaging technology which will be familiar to most people including CAT scans and X-rays. There is also a range of medical diagnostic techniques that use radiation technology to provide valuable information to clinicians about the treatment options that they can offer their patients. Veterinary medicine also makes use of similar treatments and technologies. Research institutes and universities are using ionising radiation for teaching and research purposes. There are also a number of industrial applications where ionising radiation delivers justifiable and significant benefits such as the non-destructive testing of the structural integrity of items such as aircraft and gas pipelines.As these examples indicate ionising radiation can be produced by radioactive material such as the iodine used to treat hyperthyroid conditions as I described and it can also be produced by irradiating apparatus such as X-ray machines. To ensure that both radioactive material and irradiating apparatus are captured within the scope of the bill the bill adopts the term “radiation source” to describe these two categories. However radioactivity that occurs at very low levels will not be subject to the bill. The bill achieves this by setting threshold levels for radioactive material which are published in schedule 2 of the bill. Radioactive material below the published thresholds will not be subject to the provisions of the bill.I am advised that we are all exposed to small amounts of ionising radiation every day mostly from naturally occurring sources and that these threshold levels are set at internationally accepted radioactivity levels below which no regulatory action is warranted in order to protect the health and safety of people or the environment. The threshold levels are in fact derived from International Atomic Energy Agency recommendations and are based on the published scientific literature used to generate these recommendations. It follows therefore that any material exhibiting a radioactivity at or above the published threshold levels will be subject to the bill.It is equally important to note at this point what the bill does not do. It does not regulate non-ionising radiation—non-ionising radiation such as that generated by electromagnetic fields produced by such things as cellphone sites power linesWi-Fi and other remote access technologies microwave ovens and ultraviolet tanning machines to name just a few. Non-ionising radiation will continue to be regulated under the relevant health safety environmental and consumer legislation that is already in place. The existing legislation will not be altered as a result of the bill.Significantly it does not alter in any way theNew Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Disarmament and Arms Control Act the Nuclear-Test-Ban Act and the Atomic Energy Act. As you know these well-established laws deal with nuclear weapons and atomic energy. These matters are outside the scope of the bill. The bill has been drafted to ensure expressly that there is no doubt that these Acts are not affected in any way as a result of the bill. I can therefore assure the House that there is nothing in this bill that alters New Zealand’s position on nuclear weapons or atomic energy. As the title of the bill suggests the fundamental and overriding principle behind this bill is to ensure that the benefits of ionising radiation are available to New Zealanders in the safest way possible. In this regard the bill is comprehensive.The bill provides a clear safety framework covering the entire life cycle of radiation sources that fall within the scope of the bill including their safe disposal. It also introduces requirements around the security or physical protection of radiation sources to account for significant changes in the international environment around security matters. The bill also provides for the development of radiation safety plans the publication of codes of practice the development of emergency preparedness and response plans and the keeping of a register of radiation sources. As one would expect in an area where only the highest standards are acceptable the bill makes provisions for the appointment of enforcement officers with powers of inspection and the ability to issue compliance orders if required. In case they are needed offence provisions with significant penalties are also included in the bill.This bill has been a long time in the making. Public consultation began in 2002 and it was not until 2009 that the Government agreed final policy decisions. Officials developing the bill have been in contact with radiation users groups since 2009. Also included in the development of the bill have been emergency response agencies such as Civil Defence and emergency responders such as the New Zealand Fire Service the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Defence Force. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also been closely involved as enactment of the bill will provide a means for New Zealand to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and the amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material among other protocol.I consider that the bill provides a comprehensive set of best-practice measures to ensure that the beneficial use of radiation can be available for the benefit of New Zealanders. At the same time the bill ensures that the risks associated with radiation use can be managed to the exacting standards New Zealanders would expect to ensure the health and safety of people and the protection of the environment. It gives me great pleasure that this important piece of legislation can now be considered and I commend it to the House.