[ RadSafe ] RE Brits say 1E-6 risk is "no danger"

[Dawson, Fred Mr]

Full details can be found at the links given below

The policy statement 'HSE Criterion for Delicensing Nuclear Sites'
(available in English and Welsh Language versions) can be accessed at the following website addresses: 

www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/delicensing.pdf

and

www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/delicensingwelsh.pdf


The Health and Safety Commission consulted on HSE's proposed policy statement for delicensing during the period 01May - 31 July 2004, and the policy statement has been slightly modifIed as a result of comments received. A summary of the main points made and HSE's response can be viewed in Annex A the HSC paper HSC/05/30 (HSC/0530a) at the following website address:

www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/meetings/2005/260705/ca07.htm


Fred Dawson
Health Physics Assistant Director & Team Leader
Directorate of Safety & Claims
6-D-30 MOD Main Building
 
phone   (9621) 70215 MB
               020 7807 0215
mobile   07 973 169 338
email     dsc-hpad at mod.uk
 
http://www.mod.uk/dsc/
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Jim Hardeman
Sent: 18 August 2005 02:12
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Brits say 1E-6 risk is "no danger"

Colleagues *
 
See below.
 
Jim Hardeman
Jim_Hardeman at dnr.state.ga.us
 
=======
 
HSE publishes criteria on 'no danger' for decommissioning
Published on 19-Aug-2005 
URL: http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=10413

Moves to decommission Britain's ageing nuclear reactors have come another step closer as the Health and Safety Executive has published its criteria for assessing what levels of radiation constitute 'no danger'. 

 
The HSE has published new guidance on what levels of radiation are 'no danger' 

HSE believes the most helpful way to define 'no danger' is to present it in terms of an assessed numerical risk to human life, rather than to use phrases such as 'very low risk.' 

As a result, the policy statement, 'HSE Criterion for Delicensing Nuclear Sites', defines the requirement for establishing 'no danger' when considering a delicensing application to be: "A demonstration that any residual radioactivity, above background activity, which remains on the site, which may or may not have arisen from licensable activities, will lead to a risk of death to an individual using the site for any reasonably foreseeable purpose, of no greater than one in a million per year." 

It is expected that there will be a rapid increase in requests for delicensing as, last week, Sir Anthony Cleaver, chairman of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said he would like to see the ageing Magnox reactors decommissioned over the next 25 years, not 125 as previously planned, admitting that the cost of doing so is likely to increase by around £8 billion to £56 billion. 

This will be paid for by the taxpayer, causing consternation among conservationists and green groups who see nuclear as little more than an expensive liability. 

Reports earlier this week suggest that the contract for decommissioning will go to an American firm. The Observer states that British Nuclear Group, the company that currently dismantles old atomic sites in the UK, is set to sign a deal with US engineering firm Jacobs to carry out the decommissioning. 

This could even be a pre-cursor to the eventual takeover of BNG by a US firm, the report suggests. 

David Hopkins 


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