Radiation safety. [Criteria for radiation protection standards]

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977

OSTI ID:7098023

Auxier, J A

Data available on the biological effects of radiation on man are reviewed, with emphasis on dose response to low LET and high LET radiation sources, and the effects of dose rate. Existing guides for radiation protection were formulated largely on the basis of tumor induction in the bone of radium dial painters, but the ICRP/NCRP annual dose guides of 5 rem/yr are of the same general magnitude as the doses received in several parts of the world from the natural radiation environment. Because of the greater sensitivity of rapidly dividing cells and the assumption that radiation occupations would not begin before the age of eighteen, maximum exposure levels were set as 5 (N-18) rem/yr, where N is the exposed worker's age in years. However, in the case of the natural radiation environment, exposure commences, in a sense, with the exposure of the ovum of the individual's mother; and the ovum is formed during the fetal development of the mother. In occupational exposures, the professional health physicist has always practiced the as low as practical philosophy, and exposures have generally averaged far below the guidelines. The average annual exposure of the radiation worker in modern plants and laboratories is approximately equal to the average natural radiation environment exposure rate and far lower than the natural radiation environment in many parts of the world. There are numerous complications and uncertainties in quantifying radiation effects on humans, however, the greatest is that due to having to extrapolate from high dose levels at which effects have been measured and quantified, to low levels at which most exposures occur but at which no effects have been observed.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7098023
• Report Number(s): CONF-770615-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560151* -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AGE DEPENDENCE
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
DOSE RATES
DOSES
ENERGY TRANSFER
ICRP
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LET
MAMMALS
MAN
MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY
PERSONNEL
PRIMATES
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVITY
RECOMMENDATIONS
RESPONSE MODIFYING FACTORS
SAFETY STANDARDS
STANDARDS
US NCRP
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERTEBRATES