In the UK, IRIDM should not be seen as novel, since we have used it in the form of the ALARP process for many years. This requires a good quality PSA which can be complex and resource intensive so is only needed if RGP is not available. However, there is sometimes a tendency to use RGP even when not entirely relevant, because it is less resource intensive. The control measures applied to one type of nuclear facility (e.g. a fuel processing plant) may not be the most appropriate for another (e.g. a nuclear power plant) and vice versa. In addition, part of the argument to support the use of RGP has always been that the practices themselves have been subjected to an ALARP assessment so there is no need to repeat the process. However, this is not always true of international standards. It should be recognised that the ALARP 'balance' remains the legal requirement. The international developments of IRIDM were mainly an attempt to produce an approach which could fit into the more prescriptive approaches to regulation. IRIDM is much more suited to a goal setting approach, however, the international developments provide useful information which supports the use of ALARP rather than to provide something radically different.
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