Safety

The safety of persons and the environment is the fundamental basis for all the activities of the company.

• Safety of the workers
• Radiological safety
• Enresa Radiological Protection Technical Unit

Safety of the workers

A priority issue for Enresa is the prevention of occupational risk in order to guarantee the safety of the workers.

• Preventive activities are undertaken at each of the work centres and facilities. The Occupational Risk Prevention Plan applied in each case allows for systematic action in accordance with procedures that reduce the probabilities of accidents in all occupational areas.
• The Prevention Service oversees the safety and health of the workers.
• Information is provided for all the workers and their participation in decision-making in relation to prevention is promoted.

Radiological safety

The in-house Prevention Service looks after the health of the employees.

Activities involving the handling of radioactive materials may cause the persons participating to receive radiation doses or become contaminated with radiation-emitting substances. For this reason, these tasks are known as radiological risk activities.

Radiological safety is the discipline in charge of guaranteeing that activities involving a radiological risk are carried out in such a way as to ensure the safety of persons and the environment. In order to achieve this objective, Enresa:

• Carries out research on radiological safety and collaborates with its international peer organisations.
• Possesses the necessary organisational capacities and resources at its work centres (Radiological Protection Technical Services or Units), the main mission of which is to protect all Enresa workers and any contracted personnel performing tasks involving a radiological risk.
• Is subject to the direct control of the Nuclear Safety Council.

Enresa Radiological Protection Technical Unit

In addition to the Radiological Protection Services that Enresa organises at the facilities it operates (El Cabril, Vandellós I and José Cabrera in the near future), it also has a Radiological Protection Technical Unit (RPTU) at the company’s offices in Madrid. This Unit was set up in 1990 and is responsible for the numerous safety-related activities that are carried out from the head office.

This Unit is authorised by the Nuclear Safety Council and its most important functions are the following:

• Providing radiological protection for workers outside the Enresa facilities.
• Control of the removal and transport of radioactive wastes from the technical point of view.
• Study and classification of metallic radioactive sources included under the radiological surveillance protocol.
• Study and classification of orphan radioactive sources recovered during the corresponding campaigns. Orphan radioactive sources are those that exist outside the habitual controls to which radioactive substances are subjected until they are detected and processed.
• Drawing up of procedures and protocols for action in relation to radiological protection.
• Management and tracking of the environmental radiological surveillance plans implemented at the Enresa facilities.
• Advice for the work centres in relation to radiological protection.
• Providing training for prevention and action in the event of radiological emergencies.
• Support for the authorities and State security forces in the event of radiological emergencies or incidents at non-nuclear industries.

Since it started up, the Enresa Radiological Protection Technical Unit has revised more than 4,800 radioactive sources.