Section 335.9010  Radiation Safety Officer

Except as provided in Section 335.9160 of this Part, the licensee shall require an individual fulfilling the responsibilities of the Radiation Safety Officer as provided in Section 335.1040(b) of this Part to be an individual who:

a)         Is certified by a specialty board whose certification process has been recognized by the Agency, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an Agreement State or a Licensing State and who meets the requirements in subsections (e) and (f) of this section.  To be recognized, a specialty board shall require all candidates for certification to meet the following requirements:

1)         The candidate must:

A)         Hold a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in physical science, or engineering or biological science with a minimum of 20 college credits in physical science;

B)        Have 5 or more years of professional experience in health physics (graduate training may be substituted for no more than 2 years of the required experience), including at least 3 years in applied health physics; and

C)        Pass an examination administered by diplomate of the specialty board that evaluates knowledge and competence in radiation physics and instrumentation, radiation protection, mathematics pertaining to the use and measurement of radioactivity, radiation biology and radiation dosimetry; or

2)         The candidate must:

A)        Hold a master's or doctor's degree in physics, medical physics, other physical science, engineering, or applied mathematics from an accredited college or university;

B)        Have 2 years of full-time practical training and/or supervised experience in medical physics:

i)           Under the supervision of a medical physicist who is certified in medical physics by a specialty board recognized by the Commission or an Agreement State; or

ii)           In clinical nuclear medicine facilities providing diagnostic and/or therapeutic services under the direction of physicians who meet the requirements for authorized users in Section 335.9040 or 335.9050; and

iii)         Pass an examination, administered by diplomate of the specialty board, that assess knowledge and competence in clinical diagnostic radiological or nuclear medicine physics and in radiation safety; or

b)         Has completed a structured educational program consisting of:

1)         200 hours of classroom and laboratory training in the following areas:

A)        Radiation physics and instrumentation;

B)        Radiation protection;

C)        Mathematics pertaining to the use and measurement of radioactivity;

D)        Radiation biology;

E)         Radiation dosimetry; and

2)         1 year of full-time radiation safety experience under the supervision of the individual identified as the Radiation Safety Officer on an Agency, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Agreement State or Licensing State license or permit issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission master material licensee that authorizes similar types and uses of radioactive material involving the following:

A)         Shipping, receiving and performing related radiation monitoring;

B)        Using and performing checks for proper operation of instruments used to determine the activity of dosages, instruments used to measure radionuclides and survey meters;

C)        Securing and controlling radioactive material;

D)        Using administrative controls to avoid mistakes in the administration of radioactive material;

E)         Using procedures to prevent or minimize radioactive contamination and using proper decontamination procedures;

F)         Using emergency procedures to control radioactive material;

G)        Disposing of radioactive material; and

c)         Is a medical physicist who has been certified by a specialty board whose certification process has been recognized by the Agency, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission or an Agreement State under Section 335.9150(a) and has experience in radiation safety for similar types of use of byproduct material for which the licensee is seeking the approval of the individual as Radiation Safety Officer and who meets the requirements in subsections (c) and (d) of this section; or

d)        Is an authorized user, authorized medical physicist or authorized nuclear pharmacist identified on the licensee's license and has experience with the radiation safety aspects of similar types of use of radioactive material for which the individual has Radiation Safety Officer responsibilities; and

e)         Has obtained written attestation, signed by a preceptor Radiation Safety Officer, that the individual has satisfactorily completed the requirements in subsection (f) and (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(B) or (a)(2)(A) and (a)(2)(B) or meets subsections (c) or (d) and has achieved a level of radiation safety knowledge sufficient to function independently as a Radiation Safety Officer for a medical use licensee; and

f)          Has training in radiation safety, regulatory issues and emergency procedures for the types of use for which a licensee seeks approval.  This training requirement may be satisfied by completing training that is supervised by a radiation safety officer, authorized medical physicist, authorized nuclear pharmacist or authorized user, as appropriate, who is authorized for the type(s) of use for which the licensee is seeking approval.

AGENCY NOTE:  Specialty boards whose certification processes have been recognized by the Agency, the U.S.  Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an Agreement State or a Licensing State will be posted on the NRC's Web page.

(Source:  Amended at 32 Ill. Reg. 9247, effective June 13, 2008)