The Code of Practice for Nuclear Medicine: ORS C2 2019 (ORS C2 2019) is currently in force. The code of practice was issued on 19 April 2019 under section 86 of the Radiation Safety Act 2016 (the Act).
In 2023, ORS C2 2019 was reviewed under section 90 of the Act. In 2024, following the findings of the review, public consultation on amendments to the code of practice were proposed under section 89 of the Act. The process to amend the code of practice is yet to be completed and further information can be found at Proposed revised Code of Practice for Nuclear Medicine: ORS C2 for consultation.
Scope of ORS C2 2019
ORS C2 2019 specifies 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 C2 2019 is set out in the code of practice. To ‘deal with’ a radiation source that is within the scope of ORS C2 2019 means to: manufacture, possess, control, manage, use (including prepare for use/dispense), store, export, import, sell, supply, discharge or dispose of a radiation source.
The code of practice applies to all practices involving the administration of unsealed radiopharmaceuticals to patients to diagnose or treat disease, or for clinical or pre-clinical research. Application of the code of practice includes, but is not limited to, the practices of nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, in vivo diagnostics and sentinel node biopsy procedures that make use of radiopharmaceuticals.
ORS C2 2019 does not apply to the:
- manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals using a cyclotron
- security of radioactive material (see instead ORS C5 2021)
- safe transport of radioactive material (see instead ORS C6 2019).
Publishing information
- Publication date
- Citation
Ministry of Health. 2018. ORS C2: Code of Practice for Nuclear Medicine. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
- ISBN
- 978-1-98-856872-0 (online)
- HP number
- 7066
- Copyright status
-
Owned by the Ministry of Health and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
