[ RadSafe ] ICRP 1 mSv Annual General Public Limit

[Jerry Cohen]

Dear Franz, et al,

Of course you are correct in pointing out that the ICRP has no regulatory 
authority, but it certainly has a lot of influence in development of national 
and international radiation directives. In this regard, they have essentially 
served as the ultimate authority in setting guidance for radiation exposure.
Members of ICRP (and NCRP) are appointed by current members so that it is 
unlikely that those with  differing viewpoints will  gain membership and 
currently held viewpoints will generally find little or no opposition. In my 
opinion, this is unfortunate since such self-perpetuating relationships  lead to 
"inbreeding" resulting in incestuous and misguided policies such as LNT and 
ALARA.

Jerry Cohen



________________________________
From: Doug Aitken <jdaitken at sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List 
<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>; Roy Parker <roy at royparker.org>
Sent: Mon, February 21, 2011 4:06:16 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] ICRP 1 mSv Annual General Public Limit

Well said, Franz.
However, the truth is that in many aspects of radiation safety, country and
(e.g) EU "regulations" do follow closely the recommendations of the ICRP and
the "regulations" published by IAEA. And this is very evident (thank
goodness!) in the Transport Regulations. I recently had the pleasure of
reviewing the EU regulations for road transport (ADR, 2007/2009) and found
them, word-for-word, direct copies of the IAEA regs TS-R-1.

Regards
Doug

Doug Aitken
QHSE Advisor, Schlumberger D&M Operations Support
Cell Phone: 713-562-8585
(alternate e-mail: doug.aitken at slb.com )
Mail: c/o Therese Wigzell,
Schlumberger,
Drilling & Measurements HQ,
300 Schlumberger Drive, MD15,
Sugar Land, Texas 77478





-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2011 1:48 PM
To: 'Roy Parker'; 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics)
MailingList'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] ICRP 1 mSv Annual General Public Limit

Roy and RADSAFErs,

With all due respect I would like to point to one very common
misunderstanding unfortunately abundant like a "disease" even among
radiation protection professionals.

The ICRP has no power, authorisation or any legal worldwide background to
set "limits" for doses or whatever with respect to radiation or anything
else. What it has is clearly a moral authority as a supranational
institution of independent, world wide recognized and respected scientists.
It does not set "limits", but gives recommendations, which may - or may not
- be incorporated into national laws. The same is true for the
recommendations of the WHO, the IAEA and the European Union (there might be
more bodies).  

Therefore the discussions here about the "limit" of ICRP and the limits in
the USA is not really relevant - nobody can argue that he is keeping the
ICRP (or whatever) "limits", but has to observe the legal limits set by the
national legislation. 

I have been watching closely the legislation about drinking water
radioactivity and even in the European Union Member States "limits" are by
far not uniform. Not to talk that even among those international scientific
bodies like ICRP and WHO the recommendations are not the same. Just one
brief example: The EU recommendations do not contain a recommended limit for
uranium on a mass basis, which would be the only way to handle it because of
uraniums chemotoxicity, the WHO does it.

Best regards,

Franz 

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] Im Auftrag von Roy Parker
Gesendet: Montag, 21. Februar 2011 17:17
An: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] ICRP 1 mSv Annual General Public Limit

What was the first year and publication in which ICRP established the 1 mSv
annual limit for members of the general public?

Roy A. Parker, Ph.D.
Radiation Physics Consultant
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