ISO 11320:2011 provides criteria for emergency preparedness and response to minimize consequences due to a nuclear criticality accident. The criticality safety of operations are evaluated in accordance with ISO 1709.

ISO 11320:2011 applies to a site with one or more facilities which might contain significant quantities and concentrations of fissile material. The extent to which ISO 11320:2011 needs to be applied depends on the overall criticality risk presented by the facilities at the site.

ISO 11320:2011 does not apply to off-site transport and transit storage of packages with fissile material.

ISO 11320:2011 does not apply to sites with operating nuclear power plants or to facilities with research reactors which are licensed to become critical or near-critical, provided that there are no operations with fissile material external to the reactor for which a credible criticality accident risk exists. ISO 11320:2011 can be applied to such sites and facilities in specific cases, if supported by site management and by licensing authorities.