Radiation Protection Act

“approved” means approved in writing by the Director;

“authorised officer” means any authorised officer appointed under section 3;

“Committee” means the Radiation Advisory Committee established under section 4;

“diagnostic radiologist” means a registered medical practitioner who holds any post-graduate degree, diploma or qualification in diagnostic radiology which is approved by the Minister for the purposes of this Act;

“Director” means the Director of Radiation Protection appointed under section 3;

“disposal”, in relation to waste, includes its removal, deposit or destruction, and includes its discharge, whether onto land or into water or into air or into a sewer or a drain or otherwise, and also includes its burial, whether underground or otherwise, and “dispose of” shall be construed accordingly;

“export”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, in relation to Singapore, means to take or cause to be taken out of Singapore by land, sea or air;

“fuel burning equipment” includes a nuclear fuel plant;

“import”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, in relation to Singapore, means to bring, or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, sea or air;

“in transit” means taken or sent from any country and brought into Singapore by land, sea or air whether or not landed or transhipped in Singapore for the sole purpose of being carried to another country either by the same or by another conveyance;

“ionising radiations” means electromagnetic radiations and corpuscular radiations which give rise to the formation of ion pairs on interaction with matter;

“irradiating apparatus” means —

“licence” means a valid licence granted under section 9;

“licensee” means the holder of a licence;

“non-ionising radiations” means electromagnetic radiations and fields with wavelengths greater than 100 nanometers and all accoustic radiations and fields with frequencies below 16 Hz and above 16 kHz;

“nuclear medicine specialist” means a registered medical practitioner who holds a post-graduate degree, diploma or qualification in internal medicine or radiology which is approved by the Minister for the purposes of this Act and has two or more years of full-time work experience in an accredited nuclear medical department;

“premises” includes messuages, houses, buildings and lands, whether open or enclosed, and whether public or private, and includes any place underground and any land covered by water;

“prescribed” means prescribed by this Act or by regulations made thereunder;

“radiation” means ionising radiation or non-ionising radiation;

“radioactive material” means any article containing a radioactive substance giving it a specific radioactivity exceeding 74 becquerel per gram and a total radioactivity exceeding 3.7 kilobecquerel;

“radioactive substance” means a radionuclide or mixture of radionuclides, either alone or in chemical combination with other elements;

“radioactive waste” means any waste which consists wholly or partly of —

“radionuclide” means an isotope of any element which spontaneously emits any ionising radiation;

“registered dentist” means any person who is registered as a dentist in the first division of the register maintained under section 5 of the Dentists Act [Cap. 76];

“registered medical practitioner” means any person who is registered or deemed to be registered as a medical practitioner under the Medical Registration Act [Cap. 174];

“registered pharmacist” means any person who is registered as a pharmacist under the Pharmacists Registration Act [Cap. 230];

“sell” includes supplying or otherwise dealing in or disposing of, whether by way of sale, loan or gift, or offering or attempting to sell, or receiving for sale, or exposing for sale, or having in possession for sale, or sending or delivering for sale, or causing to be sold, offered or exposed for sale and also includes barter, and “sale”, “buying”, “vendor” and “purchaser” shall have corresponding meanings;

“therapeutic radiologist” means a registered medical practitioner who holds any post-graduate degree, diploma or qualification in therapeutic radiology which is approved by the Minister for the purposes of this Act;

“veterinary surgeon” means —

Every licensee shall provide and maintain so far as is practicable for employees who are exposed or likely to be exposed to radiations a working environment that is safe and without risks to health.

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), every licensee shall —

The registered medical practitioners performing medical examinations under subsection (2)(e) shall give notice to the Director in the approved form of all employees whose health is affected, or is reasonably suspected to be affected, by radiations.

If the Director is satisfied that it is detrimental to the health of any employee if he continues to be exposed to radiations, the licensee shall not permit or require that employee —

For the purposes of this section —

For the purposes of this Act, there shall be a Director of Radiation Protection who shall be appointed by the Minister.

The Director shall be charged with the general administration of this Act and the exercise of the powers conferred and duties imposed upon him by this Act.

The Director may appoint such other persons as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of this Act.

Subject to any general or special directions of the Minister or the Director, the powers conferred and duties imposed on the Director by this Act or any regulations made thereunder may be exercised or performed by any authorised officer.

There shall be an advisory committee to be known as the Radiation Advisory Committee whose duty shall be to advise the Minister on —

The members of the Committee shall be appointed by the Minister and shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of their appointments and shall be eligible for re-appointment.

Any member of the Committee may, at any time by notice in writing to the Minister, resign his office.

The Minister may at any time revoke the appointment of any member of the Committee without assigning any reason.

The Minister shall appoint a member of the Committee to be chairman of the Committee.

The meetings and the procedure of the Committee shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be as determined by the members of the Committee.

Subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed, no person shall, except under and in accordance with a licence —

Subsection (1) shall not apply to any radioactive material —

Subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed, no person shall, except in accordance with a licence —

Notice of every sale of irradiating apparatus shall forthwith be given to the Director by the person selling the apparatus, together with the name and address of the person to whom it was sold.

Notice of every purchase of irradiating apparatus shall forthwith be given to the Director by the person buying the apparatus, together with the name and address of the person from whom it was purchased.

No irradiating apparatus, whether in a working condition or otherwise, shall be disposed of without the prior written approval of the Director.

An application for a licence or a renewal thereof shall be made to the Director in an approved form and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee.

An applicant for a licence shall furnish such information as the Director may in any case require.

The Director may in his discretion —

A licence shall, subject to subsection (3)(d), remain in force for a period of two years, or such lesser period as may be determined by the Director, from the date of its issue and may from time to time be renewed within the prescribed time for a period not exceeding two years.

The Director shall keep or cause to be kept such registers of licences as may be prescribed.

The contents of every such register may be evidenced in any proceedings by a certificate under the hand of the Director, and every such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the matters stated therein.

A certificate under the hand of the Director stating that on a date specified in the certificate any person named therein did or did not appear in any register as the holder of a licence or any specified class of licence shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of the matters specified therein.

No person shall accumulate any radioactive waste on any premises without the prior approval in writing of the Director.

Any approval given by the Director under this section may be subject to such conditions as the Director may think fit.

Where the disposal of any radioactive waste has been authorised under section 13 and, in accordance with that authorisation, the waste is required or permitted to be accumulated with a view to subsequent disposal thereof, no further authorisation under this section shall be required to enable the waste to be accumulated in accordance with the authorisation granted under that section.

For the purposes of this section, where any radioactive material is produced, kept or used on any premises and any substance arising from the production, keeping or use of that material is accumulated in any part of the premises appropriated for the purpose, and is retained there for a period of not less than 3 months, that substance shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed —

If there is radioactive waste on any premises and the Director is of the opinion that the waste is unlikely to be lawfully disposed of, the Director shall have the power to dispose of that radioactive waste in such manner as the Director thinks fit, and to recover from the occupier of the premises or, if the premises are unoccupied, from the owner thereof, any expenses reasonably incurred by the Director in disposing of it.

For the purposes of this section, “owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rent for the premises in connection with which the word is used, whether in his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person or who would so receive the rent if the premises were let to a tenant and shall include the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List authenticated under section 15 of the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254].

Subject to section 17, the decision of the Director shall be final.

No person shall transport any radioactive waste without the prior consent in writing of the Director.

Any consent given by the Director under this section may be expressed to be subject to such conditions as the Director thinks necessary for the protection of the public.

Any person who is dissatisfied with any decision of the Director under section 9 or 15 may appeal to the Minister in writing within 30 days of the communication to him of the decision of the Director.

Upon receipt of any appeal, the Minister shall appoint one or more delegates to hear representations made by the appellant and the Director and, if such delegates think fit, to inspect the premises or irradiating apparatus and to report to the Minister, who shall thereupon determine the appeal as soon as practicable.

In the exercise of his power to determine an appeal, the Minister may —

The decision of the Minister under this section shall be final.

The Director or any authorised officer may for the purposes of this Act or any regulations made thereunder enter at all reasonable hours any premises, vehicle, vessel or aircraft in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that there is any radioactive material or irradiating apparatus for the purpose of examining the premises, vehicle, vessel or aircraft and testing the radioactive material or examining or calibrating the irradiating apparatus, as the case may be.

If a Magistrate is satisfied on oath or affirmation by the Director or an authorised officer that —

Every warrant granted under this section shall continue in force until the purpose for which it was granted has been satisfied.

The Director, any authorised officer or a police officer authorised to act under section 18 may —

Any person who refuses, fails or neglects to comply with any demand or requisition made by any person under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

Where an offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder has been committed by a company, firm, society or other body of persons, any person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer or a partner, of the company, firm, society or other body of persons or was purporting to act in such capacity shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence unless he proves that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised, having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.

Where any person would be liable under this Act to any punishment, penalty or forfeiture for any act, omission, neglect or default, he shall be liable to the same punishment, penalty or forfeiture for every such act, omission, neglect or default of any clerk, servant or agent, or of the clerk or servant of the agent provided that the act, omission, neglect or default was committed by the clerk or servant in the course of his employment or by the agent when acting on behalf of that person or by the clerk or servant of that agent when acting in the course of his employment in such circumstances that had the act, omission, neglect or default been committed by the agent his principal would have been liable under this section.

Where any person is convicted of any offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder in relation to any radioactive material, the court may, in addition to imposing any penalty under the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, order that all radioactive materials in respect of which the offence was committed shall be forfeited to the Government.

Where any person is convicted of any offence under section 8, the court may, in addition to imposing any penalty under the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, order that the irradiating apparatus in respect of which the offence was committed shall be forfeited to the Government.

All radioactive materials and every irradiating apparatus forfeited under subsection (1) or (2) shall be disposed of in such manner as the Director may direct.

There shall be a right of appeal from every order made by the court under this section.

Where an application made under the Radiation Protection Act [Cap. 262, 1985 Ed.] repealed by this Act (referred to in this section as the repealed Act) for the grant or renewal of a licence is still pending on 1st January 1992, it shall be deemed to have been made under a corresponding provision of this Act.

A licence granted under the repealed Act which is in force on 1st January 1992 shall be deemed to be a licence granted under a corresponding provision of this Act.

Any approval or consent granted or given by the Director under section 17, 18 or 20 of the repealed Act shall be deemed to be an approval or a consent granted or given by the Director under a corresponding provision of this Act.

Where an appeal has been made to the Minister under section 21 of the repealed Act and the appeal has not been dealt with or disposed of immediately prior to 1st January 1992, it may be dealt with in accordance with that section as if this Act had not been enacted.