International radiation safety standards

The system of international safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is described with explanations as to the purpose of each level of the hierarchy. There is a system of committees that advise the IAEA and approve the safety standards and one of these committees is the Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC). The Committee meets twice a year (the last meeting was 24-27 March 2003) and this note outlines the current situation with respect to published safety standards documents at the fundamentals, requirements and guides levels and the status of documents under development. Guidance on how to find more information and to keep up to date on the development of documents is provided. The forward plans of the IAEA in this area are discussed briefly.