Code of Practice for Non-medical Irradiators: ORS C8

The Code of Practice for Non-medical Irradiators: ORS C8 2020 (ORS C8 2020) is currently in force. The code of practice came into force on 31 July 2020 and was issued under section 86 of the Radiation Safety Act 2016 (the Act).

There was no code of safe practice in place before ORS C8 2020 that specifically included the radiation practices and radiation sources included in the scope of ORS C8 2020.

In 2025, ORS C8 2020 was reviewed under section 90 of the Act. The review findings and proposed next steps can be found at Consultation on the Code of Practice for Non-medical Irradiators: ORS C8 2020.

ORS C8 2020 sets out the technical requirements that a person must comply with in order to comply with the fundamental requirements set out in sections 9 to 12 of the Act.

The code of practice applies to any person who deals with a radiation source that is within the scope of the code of practice. The scope of ORS C8 2020 is set out in the code of practice. To ‘deal with’ a radiation source that is within the scope of ORS C8 2020 means to: manufacture, possess, control, manage, use, store, export, import, sell, supply, or dispose of a radiation source, or to carry out any other activity or practice involving the radiation source.

The scope of the code of practice includes radiation practices involving self-shielded gamma irradiators, panoramic wet source storage gamma irradiators and electron beam irradiators. The most common radiation practices involving these irradiators in New Zealand are blood irradiation and animal vaccination processing.