Without a licence under § 25 of the Radiation Protection Act, no contractor may deploy staff in someone else's radiation protection area — however well qualified the person is. The licence is therefore the entry ticket without which any quote is worthless.
What § 25 StrlSchG governs
The Radiation Protection Act distinguishes between the operator of a facility and contractors working there. A contractor deploying its own staff in someone else's radiation protection areas needs an official licence to do so. It is not granted across the board: it requires expertise in radiation protection, a suitable company organisation and the reliability of those responsible.
For the operator this means a simple test question: is the licence in place, and does it cover the intended work? Everything else — price, availability, references — only matters after that.
The three building blocks that belong together
1. The company's licence
It applies to the company, not to the individual. COPLA Burg GmbH holds this licence, including sabotage protection measures.
2. The reliability check on the person
Under § 12b of the Atomic Energy Act, every person who is to be granted access to a nuclear facility is checked for reliability by the authorities. That check needs lead time and cannot be speeded up. In practice it is the deciding factor for the earliest possible start date.
3. Expertise, health checks and dosimetry
On top come radiation protection instruction, occupational health checks and dose monitoring. Only when all three building blocks are in place does authorised access exist.
A note on planning: The limiting factor in nuclear projects is almost never the price but the duration of the official check. Ask considerably earlier than you are used to from other trades — and ask specifically for specialists whose check is already in place.
What additionally applies during dismantling
Decommissioning and dismantling bring a further strand of evidence: material leaving the facility has to be clearance-measured and documented under § 58 of the Radiation Protection Ordinance. That evidence is not an appendix to the dismantling but a work package in its own right — and one of the reasons why dismantling projects need physicists and documentation specialists alongside fitters.
On top of that comes the binding force of the KTA rules, which set technical requirements for nuclear facilities. Which of them apply in detail is determined by the plant, not by the contractor.
Six points for your supplier audit
- Is the licence under § 25 StrlSchG in place, and is it current?
- Does it cover the reliability check and sabotage protection?
- How many specialists have a valid reliability check?
- What radiation protection expertise is in place, and when was it refreshed?
- Who keeps the dose records, and in what format are they handed over?
- Is there experience with clearance measurements under § 58 StrlSchV?
Which documents we can produce is set out under Certificates & approvals; our range of services in nuclear engineering is under Nuclear Services. If you are planning a dismantling project, the best time to settle lead times is before the tender — not after.