Radiation Protection – COVID-19 Impact

This first 2020 issue of JRPR is being published when our planet is under the influence of one in a hundred years pandemic event caused by novel coronavirus COVID-19. Throughout the world, workplaces and societies at large are attempting to adjust to ever changing situations; the daily routines and lifestyles are getting perturbed for many.

Different regions of the world are on different trajectories of COVID-19 impact, yet no matter where we are, several aspects of radiation protection would remain in need. Power plants would still be engaged to keep up with the electricity demand. Hospitals would be in need to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures; their radiation monitoring systems to be checked and kept calibrated, and nuclear medicine to be produced and safely transported to pharmacies. Radioactive source gauges, XRF and XRD devices are likely to be busy for quality assurance and quality control in the various industrial processes. Industrial radiographers and engineers would be testing the integrity of structures at production plants and possibly at civil construction sites. It appears that COVID-19 would not halt the need for many among us to safely work with or around radiation emitting devices. JRPR has a community of contributors and readers all over the world, and on behalf of the editorial team, I wish all readers a safe time at work with colleagues and at home with families.

In this editorial, I also take the opportunity to write a few lines about radiation protection in the field of industrial radiography as well. Modern day industrial radiography sources have the potential to deliver large radiation dose over a short period of exposure time. Portable nature of the equipment adds to the need for extra care and awareness for radiation safety, emergency response initiation and security of radioactive material. Improper handling can result in serious radiation injury. In that respect, appropriate radiation protection training of the industrial radiographers is of prime importance. Unlike the medical radiography, industrial radiography is much less discussed and reviewed in the radiation protection professional arena. I look forward to seeing some research, review, and publications covering this topic.

It is the third issue of JRPR being published under a joint effort of three radiation protection societies — the Korean Association for Radiation Protection (KARP), the Japan Health Physics Society (JHPS), and the Australasian Radiation Protection Society (ARPS). JRPR reach is therefore broadened both in terms of readership and author contributions. Its peer group reviewed publications are accessible as an open source to the radiation protection community worldwide. I expect that, throughout the world, the professionals in educational institutions, research organisations, industry and health will benefit from regular reading and publishing in JRPR.