The functions of this Directorate are registration, licensing, inspection and enforcement of regulations at nuclear and radiation facilities in the region which comprise of the Federal capital area, part of Punjab province, part of NWFP, part of tribal area and AJK. Based on the unified PNRA inspection and enforcement policy, RNSD-I has been following the integrated registration/licensing procedures and subsequent inspection/enforcement plans, depending on the type of installations in its area of jurisdiction.

The domain of RNSD-I work ranges from registration and licensing of nuclear research reactors operating in Pakistan, commercial sterilization and medical irradiators, industrial radiography, nuclear gauges, radiotherapy centers, nuclear medical centers, nuclear research laboratories, X-ray machines (fixed, mobile, dental, fluoroscopy, CT scan, angiography, X-ray radiography, X-ray diffractometers, simulators, etc.) to the issuance of NOC for the import and export of radioactive material/equipment and radiation free certificates for the export of the food, mineral or any other item.

The registration and licensing of nuclear research reactors, commercial irradiators and radioisotope production plants have longer procedures in order to be sure for the safe operation, for whole of their design life of the facility and are carried out in the following three stages.

        a. Registration of site, after acceptance of Site Evaluation report (SER) along with an application by owner/user/ operator.

        b. Issuance of Construction Llicence, after acceptance of Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) along with an application             by owner/ user/ operator.
        c. Issuance of Operation Licence, after acceptance of Final safety Analysis report (FSAR) along with an application by owner/             user/ operator.

The procedure for registration/licensing of other facilities is more simpler to follow by every category of the applicants. At the very initial stage, person/individual who is the owner/user/operator of the radiation sources/radiation apparatus is required to notify about the administrative and technical information including personal data, qualification, location of premises, safety measurements, qualification and experience of radiation safety officer, personnel monitoring devices etc.

The applicant, can then submit its formal application on prescribed form along with the required documents such as drawing/design/plan/map of the premises, calculations of the shielding material thickness/design of the radiation area, safety measurements in transportation, safety and security arrangements of the sealed radiation sources and other documents appropriate for a specific applicant. Premises are registered only after strict scrutiny of the applications.

After the registration and prior to issuance of a licence, a regulatory inspection is scheduled. The designated nuclear safety inspectors, with high level of technical skills, carry out inspections. The inspections are conducted in a professional but cordial manner. At this stage, management has to provide all the information required to fill-up the appropriate checklists and access to radiation areas and equipments. Interviews with the radiation workers are conducted, in order to assess the safety awareness in the organization. An exit briefing is arranged at the end of inspection, with senior management, to discuss the observation and conclusion of the inspection.

A post inspection report (PIR) is prepared by the inspectors keeping all the observations/findings and check lists of the inspection in view. The inspection reports mention all the short comings, suggestions recommendations, appreciations of the facilities to the licensee. The applicant is required to take corrective actions and subsequently, has to submit a compliance report.

After receipt of a satisfactory compliance report, a licence valid for one calendar year is issued to the applicant. In addition to issuance of lisence, a no objection certificate (NOC) can be issued to a licensee, intending to import/export of the radioactive materials/equipments. A radiation free certificate is issued for export of various items mainly edible items.