Dutch Society for Radiological Protection

President:

Dr. Hielke Freerk BOERSMA

University of Groningen
Health, Safety and Environment
Radiation Protection Unit
Visserstraat 47/49
NL-9712 CT GRONINGEN
THE NETHERLANDS

Tel: +31 50 363 6124

Fax: +31 50 363 5550

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Secretary:

L.T.M.  EBBEN

Philips Electronics Netherlands
Radiation Protection Unit
High Tech Campus 5
NL-5656AE EINDHOVEN
THE NETHERLANDS

Tel: +31 40 274 8683

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Delegates:

2008-2012

• Hielke Freerk BOERSMA: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Bert GERRITSEN: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Peter DE JONG: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Yuri FRANKEN: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Leo EBBEN: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  
• Carolien LEIJEN: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Marcel SCHOUWENBURG: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Xandra VELDERS: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web site:

http://www.nvs-straling.nl/

Description

The Netherlands Society for Radiological Protection

Data
name
Nederlandse Vereniging voor Stralingshygiëne
Dutch Society for Radiological Protection

acronym
NVS

founded
February 4, 1960

present membership
750 (December 31, 2008)

sections
Industrial Radiation Protection
Occupational Health
Non-ionizing Radiation
Holders of complex licences
permanent committees
Refresher Courses Radiological Protection
Scientific Meetings
NVS Nieuws
newsletters

NVS Nieuws (NVS Newsletter), 4 times per year
publications
series with proceedings of refresher courses in the form of DVD’s or CD-ROM’s

full membership fee
€ 80 per year

A society is born
The above table of data is one way of providing information on the Dutch Society for Radiological Protection (NVS). It gives you the statistics, but nothing of the flavour of the association of radiation protection professionals in the Netherlands. NVS was conceived in the memorable year 1958. In that year radiation and radiation protection became front-page news. In the city of Putten a radium capsule was used by accident as stove fuel which led to localized radium-contamination. It was realized that knowledge on the treatment of contaminated persons was lacking and subsequently the Institute for Radiopathology and Radiation Protection (IRS) was established. The new institute started to prepare a course on radiation protection in the same year. In 1958 the Second Conference on the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy took place in Geneva. During that meeting initiatives were taken to establish a European Health Physics Society. The participants in the IRS course and the members of the Dutch delegation to the Geneva meeting met in the second half 1959 and decided to found a society of radiation protection professionals in the Netherlands. In 1960 some 50 people established the statutes and bylaws of the new organization, that got Royal approval on October 11, 1960.

Growth
In the nearly 50 years of its existence the NVS membership increased by an order of magnitude: from about 50 in 1960 to above 700 in the first decade of the 21st century.
One might be tempted to relate the growth to the range of activities organized by the society. Although the activity program is an important factor, the growth is still somewhat astonishing, as the nuclear energy associated radiation protection program is not very significant in the Netherlands. Presumably the rather strict implementation of the European safety standards in the Netherlands will have contributed to the growth of the NVS. The majority of the NVS membership consists of radiation protection officers.

Activities
At present the focus point of the NVS activities are the semi-annual scientific meetings. These meetings are usually attended by approximately one quarter of the membership. From time to time foreign experts are being invited which helps to provide new insights and prevents inbreeding.
The NVS Nieuws, the society's quarterly newsletter (4 times per year), aims to keep the members abreast on developments in the field of health physics research and on regulatory developments. The editors also aim to provide background information on matters that figure in newspapers and on radio and television. In the latter years to the attention for non-ionizing radiation protection grows steadily.
A great success are the annual refresher courses organized by the society. Examples of topics are 'Radiobiology and radiation epidemiology', ‘Lasers’ and 'Regulatory developments'.

Scientific association
The NVS statute specifies the society as a scientific association. The NVS does not issue political statements on matters related to government policy like, e.g., the development of nuclear energy and nuclear waste problems. However, NVS can be instrumental in activating its membership to make their expertise available for policy development. An example are the workshops that NVS organizes, whenever appropriate, to answer questions from policy makers related to the implementation of, e.g., the European basic safety standards.
Being a scientific association also implies that NVS does not act as a pressure group to further the status and salary structure of radiation protection professionals. However, in order to warrant the current high standard of radiation protection in the Netherlands in the future, NVS will discuss the possibility of promoting the interests of radiation protectionists without neglecting its scientific character. Furthermore, NVS takes an active role in discussions on structure and contents of the educational structure in the field of radiation protection. It also takes initiatives to be involved in implementation of the system of registration of radiation protection experts and officers.

Health Physics international
When appropriate NVS takes an interest in international activities in the field of radiological protection. NVS co-operates with sister-associations abroad in organizing joint seminars and conferences. An example is the 2008 meeting with the Belgium Society for radiation protection (BVS) where the different approaches to radiation protection aspects were discussed under the title ‘Peeking across the border’..
Although there is no reason to suppose that in the next decade the society will decline, the prospect of radiological protection in the Netherlands is not very bright. The main reason is that in the Netherlands radiation protection policy is primarily a matter of implementation with little funds for health physics research. For the society this implies that the influx of members with up to date knowledge on the scientific basis of radiological protection is dwindling. It also implies a challenge to effectively co-ordinate the expertise available in order to guarantee that radiation protection standards, both in the ionizing and the non-ionizing fields, remain 'state of the art'.