From 17–21 May 2021 CASANZ are holding a virtual event. There theme this year draws upon Air Quality in Unprecedented Times.

The event will provide an update on the state of science and advancements within the air quality industry, whilst also reviewing Air Quality in Unprecedented Times, taking a closer look at what impacts the bushfires, COVID-19 pandemic has had on humans, on societies, the environment and economies.

https://www.casanz.org.au/casanz2021/

The Spanish Society of Medical Physics and the Spanish Society for Radiological Protection have been arranging their 7th Joint Congress, which will be held from 31st May to 4th June of 2021 in Online format. All organizational details are posted on the website http://www.congresosefmsepr.es/.

It is a Spanish Congress, but we want the participation of colleagues from all over the world, for this, we have enabled a free special fee, which will allow visualize all the plenary lectures in their original language during the days of the Congress (from May 31 to June 4 ) and these conferences will remain accessible for viewing in english (translated or subtitled) on the Congress platform from June 7th to July 5th.

In addition, during the days of the Congress you can also participate in networking with the rest of the participants.

For this reason, we ask you to collaborate with the dissemination of the event, we have indicated the website of the event and attached a 1st newsletter that hereinafter you will begin to receive from our Technical Secretariat. We ask you to make the best possible broadcasting through your website, social networks, newsletters, press releases,….

If you need any clarification or extra documentation, do not hesitate to contact us or our technical secretariat, cevents, congresosefmsepr@cevents.es .

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that caused major damage to the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power plant. UNSCEAR have made an advanced released of a follow up report on Levels and Effects of Radiation Exposure due to the nuclear accident, the UNSCEAR 2020 Report. More information http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/fukushima.html

The World Health Organisation’s Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network (REMPAN) are holding a Webinar on 23 March 2021 to make 10 years since the Fukushima Disaster. The webinar topic is Public Health consequences of Fukushima nuclear disaster: 10 years towards recovery.

ICRP is giving out free registration for the Vancouver symposium.

For the FREE registration competition, the last day to enter is February 28.  The link anyone can enter the draw on is https://mailchi.mp/icrp/icrp2021.  

Keith Baldry has announced that on 4 February 2021 the Radiation Protection and Control Bill 2021 passed its final stages in the Legislative Council and will now become an Act of Parliament.

This is a landmark step for radiation protection in South Australia. Among many reforms and improvements, the new Act introduces a general duty of care, and a risk based harms approach including establishing the offence of causing radiation harm. It also introduces tools such as Orders to enable more effective regulatory approaches. The new Act enables us to implement important national commitments such as for security of radioactive sources. It will enable us to move to more modern, risk based regulatory approaches.

I would like to acknowledge the contribution from the EPA radiation and legislative policy teams who have effectively drafted the Bill and steered it through Parliament. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of EPA staff who have since left the organisation. The next steps include formulating regulations under the Act, which will include a consultation process.

Keith is the Director of Science and Information at the South Australian Environment Protection Authority

ARPS members are have contributed consultation on the Bill, and look forward to engaging with EPA to develop the Regulations. ARPS would like to congratulate the SA EPA and their staff for achieving this milestone.

Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on the System of Radiological Protection are now available on the there website.

Or a direct link to the PDF download

Once again in 2021 we are offering STA members the opportunity to apply for eight scholarships to attend the 21st-anniversary Science meets Parliament.

Science meets Parliament brings Australian scientists and technologists together for professional development, networking, and to meet with MPs and Senators. It is a highlight of the annual parliamentary calendar and has enhanced mutual understanding between Parliamentarians and scientists as well as fostering enduring partnerships and collaborations.

Two (2) Scholarships are open to STEM practitioners in each of the following categories: 

• Indigenous STEM Scholarships for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people
• STEM Pride scholarships for people who identify as LGBTQI+
• Regional STEM scholarships for STEM practitioners who work in remote or regional Australia (>150km from a major capital city)
• Technology scholarships for STEM practitioners working in the technologically based areas of engineering and information technology.

A series of Environet organised webinars will be running towards the end of this month, please see below:

• ENVIRONET Regional Asia and the Pacific Working Group Webinar - Stakeholder Engagement and Decision-Making in Environmental Remediation & Introduction to NORM Management in Iran -
  Wednesday, January 27, 2021 9:00 am (CET)

• ENVIRONET Regional Africa Working Group Webinar: Emerging challenges and opportunities regarding Environmental Management and Remediation in Africa. –
  Wednesday, January 27, 2021 1:00 pm (CET)

• ENVIRONET Regional Europe Working Group Webinar: Challenges Imposed to the Remediation of Complex  Sites.
  Thursday, January 28, 2021 2:00 pm (CET)

• ENVIRONET Latin America and the Caribbean Working Group Webinar - Conventional Management of NORM Residues (in Spanish)
  Thursday, January 28, 2021 4:00 pm (CET)

Registration is open for two virtual RESRAD training courses in January 2021. The first one is a basic RESRAD training course that will be held on January 11-15, 2021. The second one includes advanced RESRAD-ONSITE and RESRAD-OFFSITE features along with RESRAD-BIOTA and RESRAD-RDD codes training that will be held on January 18-22, 2021.

For additional information and registration, please visit https://resrad.evs.anl.gov/training/ or send an email to:
resrad-training@anl.gov