Conflicting paradigms in radiation protection: 20 Questions with answers from the regulator, the health physicist, the scientist, and the lawyers

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:10120354

Strom, D J; Stansbury, P S ^[1]; Porter, Jr, S W ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
2. Porter Consultants, Inc., Ardmore, PA (United States)

George Orwell`s {open_quotes}doublethink{close_quotes} should be generalized to {open_quotes}polythink{close_quotes} to describe the multiplicity of views that radiation protection professionals must simultaneously accommodate. The paradigms, that is, organizing principles and beliefs, that (1) regulators, (2) operational health physicists, (3) scientists, (4) lawyers for the defendant, and (5) lawyers for the plaintiff use in their approaches to radiation protection are presented. What we believe as scientists often conflicts with what we do for purposes of radiation protection. What we need to do merely to protect humankind and the environment from harmful effects of radiation is far less than what we must do to satisfy the regulator, whose paradigm has checklists, score-keeping, and penalties. In the hands of lawyers, our work must overcome different challenges. Even if the paradigms of the operational health physicist, the scientist, and the regulator match, the odds against the lawyers paradigms also matching are astronomical. The differing paradigms are illustrated by example questions and answers. It is important for educators, trainers, and health physicists to recognize and separate the score-keeping, practice, science, and legal issues in health physics.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 10120354
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-24763; CONF-950161-1; ON: DE95007273; TRN: 95:002307
• Resource Relation: Conference: Health physics training and education,Charleston, SC (United States),29 Jan - 1 Feb 1995; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
29 ENERGY PLANNING
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99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
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ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND SAFETY
LAW