HERCA 29 Board Meeting in Budapest

The HERCA Board of Heads (BoH) meeting was held on the 19-20 May 2022 simultaneously in Budapest and remotely. It was organised thanks to HAEA (Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority).

It was the first Board meeting chaired by Nina Cromnier (SSM) with the support of the two vice-chairs: Jean-Luc Lachaume (ASN, France) and Patrick MAJERUS (Ministry of Health, Luxembourg).

General outcomes:

• In the context of the implementation of the new HERCA Strategy focusing on: cooperation, efficiency and stakeholders, a survey has been addressed internally to reflect on the format and content of the Board of Heads meetings and, beyond this, better meet HERCA heads and team leaders’ expectations.
• This Board meeting was the occasion to approve the HERCA task force Strategy paper on HERCA’s Reflections on the Revision of the System of Radiological Protection which will be addressed to the ICRP Chair as a follow-up on the discussion previously held during the December 2021 Board meeting with the ICRP Chair, Dr. Werner Rühm about the interaction between the two organisations and HERCA’s involvement in ICRP’s project of updating its recommendations.

The BoH also approved important documents and decisions related to the activities of HERCA working groups / task forces / networks. Namely:

• In the field of emergency preparedness and response, the task force dedicated to help with the situation in Ukraine was congratulated for the actions accomplished to liaise with our colleagues from SNRIU and Ukraine’s neighbouring countries and propose tools to give a practical expression of the HERCA-WENRA approach.
• The Network on Occupational Dose Collection, Registration and Reporting has welcomed a new Chair.
• The working group on Education and Training has finalised its new mandate. The mandate of the working group on Veterinary Applications is being prepared and will be presented for adoption at the next BoH meeting in December 2022.
• The 2^nd HERCA Workshop on National Radon Action Plans is about to be held by the working group on Natural Radiation Sources in Portugal on the 21-23 June 2022.
• In the field of industrial and research sources and practices, new documents are under preparation on Orphan Sources and on Financial Provisions.
• The working group on medical applications is organising a workshop in autumn 2022 in Luxembourg on Clinical audit.