POLAND
The directives repealed by Directive 2013/59/EURATOM (BSS) were transposed into the Polish legal system by an Act of Parliament on Atomic Law and regulations issued pursuant to this act. The transposition of the new BSS Directive is intended to be carried out by amending the
Atomic Law and other relevant regulations.
On August 8th 2014 the Minister of the Environment appointed the Implementation Team whose main responsibility was to develop the concept of the transposition and implementation of the BSS Directive into the Polish legal system. The Implementation Team have prepared and presented the implementation report to the Minister of the Environment on November 30th 2015.

Since Directive 96/29/EURATOM left up to Member States to decide which work activities involving NORM should be of concern from a radiation protection point of view, Poland as well as many other Member States, has introduced into its legal system cases explicitly mentioned in the directive: coal mines, caves and spas, work activities which lead to a significant increase in the exposure of workers and members of the public. The Implementation Team working on the transposition of Directive 2013/59/EURATOM identified a new catalogue of practices involving NORM which will require notification according to the new BSS Directive. The identification of these practices has been based on the 20-year measurement results of radioactivity in different NORM materials and waste products in the Polish NORM industry, taking into account industrial sectors listed in Annex VI. The Implantation Team proposed to introduce into Polish law a new definition – NORM waste. The NORM waste is not treated as radiological waste. It is managed as any other hazardous waste, when the levels of radioactivity do not exceed 1 MBq/kg for solid materials, and 1 MBq/m3 for liquid effluents.

Regarding building materials, the activity concentration index given in the BSS Directive was introduced into the Polish legal system more than 10 years ago. However, the Implementation Team identified the need for amending relevant regulations, mainly by introducing the list of materials being of concern from a radiation protection point of view in Poland according to Annex XIII. 
Share by: