Alaska Radiologic Technologist License Requirements (2026)
Who This Guide Is For
- Radiologic technologists moving to or working in Alaska who want to confirm there is no individual state license to apply for.
- Traveling radiologic technologists evaluating Alaska assignments, since the absence of a state license changes what an agency or facility will actually ask you to provide.
- Anyone who has read a third-party site claiming Alaska requires state RT licensure and wants to know what’s actually true.
At a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Individual License Required? | No — Alaska does not currently license individual radiologic technologists |
| Regulatory Model | Facility- and equipment-regulated, not individual-practitioner-regulated |
| Governing Body | Alaska Department of Health (DOH), Radiological Health Program, State Public Health Laboratories |
| What Employers Require | Active ARRT (or NMTCB) certification, set by employer hiring policy rather than state mandate |
| Facility/Equipment Registration | Required — X-ray and radiation-producing devices and facilities must be registered with the Radiological Health Program under 7 AAC 19 |
| Pending Legislation | Individual RT licensure bills have been repeatedly introduced (as AS 08.89) and never enacted, across multiple legislative sessions dating back over a decade |
Alaska does not require radiologic technologists, radiographers, radiation therapists, or nuclear medicine technologists to hold an individual state license. Instead of licensing practitioners, Alaska regulates radiation at the equipment and facility level: X-ray machines and other radiation-producing devices must be registered with the Department of Health’s Radiological Health Program, and facilities are subject to inspection, shielding review, and radiation-safety requirements under 7 AAC 19. There is no radiologic technology licensing board in Alaska, and no application, fee schedule, or renewal process for individual practitioners exists.
The Department of Health’s Radiological Health Program administers radiation control, equipment registration, inspections, and shielding review — not professional licensing of individual radiologic technologists. This is a different regulatory model rather than an absence of regulation. Alaska has maintained this structure for years, though the state has repeatedly considered changing it: legislators have introduced bills to create individual RT licensure — proposing a new Chapter 89 under AS Title 08 — including bills numbered HB 29, HB 89, HB 186, and HB 323, with the earliest attempts dating back to at least 2012. These bills were introduced during different legislative sessions and should not be interpreted as currently pending legislation. None of them have been enacted, so AS 08.89 does not currently exist as active law; it only appears in introduced-but-unpassed bill text.
What This Means for Travel Radiologic Technologists
If you’re a traveling RT considering an Alaska assignment, there is no state license application to file, no state fee to pay, and no state renewal to track. What actually governs whether you can work is entirely set by your employer or staffing agency: ARRT certification (or NMTCB for nuclear medicine) is commonly required by Alaska healthcare employers as a hiring credential, even though the state itself doesn’t mandate it. In practice, this means the credential you already need for national employability — your ARRT registration — is also the credential Alaska facilities will typically check, just enforced by the employer rather than a state board. Keep your national certification current and be ready to show it directly to the facility or agency; there’s no separate state-side paperwork behind it.
Employer and Facility Credentialing Standards
Because Alaska has no RT licensing board, ARRT certification functions here purely as a national credentialing and employer-hiring standard — it is not referenced in any enacted Alaska statute governing individual practitioners. What Alaska does regulate directly is the equipment and the facility: every X-ray or radiation-producing device used in the state must be registered with the Radiological Health Program, facilities are subject to periodic inspection and shielding review, and radiation safety protocols must be documented. A facility’s compliance record with the Radiological Health Program is a meaningfully different thing from an individual practitioner’s credential status — as a technologist, your standing with your employer depends on your national certification, not on any state filing of your own.
Pending Legislation
Alaska’s legislature has revisited individual RT licensure multiple times without passing it. Bills reviewed for this page — HB 29, HB 89, HB 186, and HB 323 — would each have created a new licensing chapter (AS 08.89) covering radiologic technologists, radiation therapists, nuclear medicine technologists, and limited radiologic imagers, administered by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development rather than the Department of Health. None progressed to enactment. If you’re researching Alaska requirements based on an older source, be aware that some may describe a licensure requirement as pending or imminent — as of this page’s last verification date, no such law has passed, and there is no indication a currently pending bill is further along than its predecessors.
- Several third-party career-guide sites incorrectly describe Alaska as requiring “state licensure” and some even point readers toward the Alaska State Medical Board — that board licenses physicians and physician assistants under a different statute entirely and has no role in radiologic technology. Don’t submit anything to that board expecting an RT credential; it doesn’t issue one.
- Because there’s no state license to renew, there’s also nothing to lapse — your ongoing standing in Alaska is entirely a function of keeping your ARRT (or NMTCB) certification active, exactly as it would be for any employer that requires it regardless of state law.
- If a recruiter or job posting references an “Alaska RT license,” ask them to clarify what they actually mean — they likely mean your national ARRT certification, since no separate Alaska-issued license exists to hold.
Relevant Statutes
- Source: Alaska DOH Radiological Health Program — official program description, facility/device registration.
- Source: Alaska Online Public Notice, Radiological Health Program regulation change — confirms statutory authority (AS 18.05.040; AS 44.29.020; AS 44.29.022) and regulation citation (7 AAC 19) for facility/device oversight.
Related Pages
- Idaho RT Licensing (No-Licensure Guide)
- Oklahoma RT Licensing (No-Licensure Guide)
- New Hampshire RT Licensing
FAQ
Does Alaska require a state license for radiologic technologists?
No. Alaska does not currently license individual radiologic technologists, radiographers, radiation therapists, or nuclear medicine technologists. The state regulates X-ray equipment and facilities instead. Source: Alaska DOH Radiological Health Program
Is Alaska about to start licensing radiologic technologists?
Not currently. Bills that would create individual RT licensure (as AS 08.89) have been introduced repeatedly across multiple legislative sessions, dating back over a decade, and none have been enacted. Source: Alaska DOH Radiological Health Program
Do I need ARRT certification to work as a radiologic technologist in Alaska?
Alaska law does not require state licensure or ARRT certification. Many Alaska healthcare employers require current ARRT certification for diagnostic radiography positions as a hiring credential, but this is set by employer policy rather than state law. Source: Alaska DOH Radiological Health Program
Does the Alaska State Medical Board license radiologic technologists?
No. The Alaska State Medical Board licenses physicians and physician assistants under separate statutory authority; it has no role in radiologic technology and does not issue an RT credential of any kind. Source: Alaska DOH Radiological Health Program
What does Alaska actually regulate if not individual technologists?
Alaska regulates X-ray and other radiation-producing equipment and the facilities that use them, requiring registration, inspection, and radiation-safety compliance under 7 AAC 19 through the Department of Health’s Radiological Health Program. Source: Alaska Online Public Notice, Radiological Health Program
2026-07-22 — Editorial review pass: softened employer-ARRT language from “nearly all employers” to “many employers”/”commonly required” throughout, since employer hiring practices aren’t independently verifiable from an official government source. Clarified that the four referenced bills were introduced in different legislative sessions and are not currently pending. Added a sentence distinguishing the Radiological Health Program’s facility/equipment oversight from professional licensure. Revised the disclaimer to reference future legislation rather than “pending” legislation, since none is currently pending.
2026-07-22 — Publish-ready draft completed. Confirmed directly against the Alaska Department of Health’s Radiological Health Program page that no individual RT license, application, fee, or renewal process exists in Alaska. Confirmed facility/equipment registration authority under 7 AAC 19 and its statutory basis (AS 18.05.040; AS 44.29.020; AS 44.29.022) via an official Alaska public notice. Confirmed a repeated, multi-session pattern of introduced-but-never-enacted individual RT licensure bills (HB 29, HB 89, HB 186, HB 323) referencing a proposed AS 08.89, none of which are currently active law. Identified and addressed third-party sites incorrectly describing Alaska as requiring state licensure, including sites that incorrectly point toward the Alaska State Medical Board, which has no jurisdiction over radiologic technology.