Physicist Dr Stephen Fennell of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) regulates the use of ionising radiation in various sectors.
My job is manager of the medical, dental and veterinary section in the regulatory services division of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.
The section is responsible for regulating the use of all sources of ionising radiation in these sectors and we do this by issuing licences and running inspection programmes.
We issue a whole range of licences from simple dental X-ray units to linear accelerators in hospitals (used to treat cancer).
My day starts at about 9am and finishes at 5.30pm. I'm one of a team of three inspectors and one administrator. At the start of the week we meet and review inspections to be carried out that week and the focus of each inspection.
We work from an inspection programme which we plan every year. In a typical week, two or three inspections would be undertaken.
We'd also review all new applications for licences, review files, taking into account an experience based on the last inspection, and discuss recent inspections carried out.
All users of sources of ionisation must obtain a licence and that includes all new hospitals, so we'd spend a lot of time viewing plans for proposed developments.
There's been a huge explosion in the number of developments for radiotherapy facilities (for the treatment of cancer) in the private sector in recent years.
Sometimes physicists would come to the institute or we would meet them at the hospital. They would outline detailed plans for the proposed X-ray facility. Another part of my work involves issuing guidance documents to some of our licensees (dentists and vets) and we'd review those.
I would also keep abreast of all new advances and developments, as the field of medical applications of ionising radiating is continually evolving.
I absolutely love the work and particularly enjoy lecturing. I lecture on hospital radiation protection courses.
The regulatory service aims to ensure that those who work with sources of ionising radiation are not at risk of excessive exposure.
Many people work with sources of ionising radiation and one of our functions is to ensure their work safety and minimise the radiation dose they receive.
Most hospitals run protection courses for staff and we'd come in and advise on how to comply with licence conditions and legislation.
There are two types of radiation: ionising which includes X-rays, gamma rays, alpha and beta, and non-ionising from microwaves, radio waves, waves of light, ultra violet and infra red.
The latter type of radiation causes ionisation in the air, which can be dangerous if it's not regulated properly.
It has its beneficial uses such as taking an X-ray of a person with a broken hand, for example.