FW: Whither ALARA?

["Vargo, George J" <vargo@pnl.gov>]

If one could step back from all of the emotional and semantic baggage that the
LNT debate has created, there really is an optimum point in dose reduction
efforts versus cost of collective dose in ICRP 37.  It is a sound application of
engineering economics.  The practical problem is reaching agreement on the
monetary value of collective dose, which has often been set arbitrarily.  In
that context, "ALARA" (a term that has been so abused as to have lost its
original meaning) is represented by the point where the cost and benefit curves
intersect at a minimum.  If one does not want to use collective dose, the same
optimization principle could be applied to controlling the dose received by an
individual worker in a process operation.

George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
International Nuclear Safety Program
PO Box 999
902 Battelle Boulevard
Richland, WA  99352-0999
509-375-6836; -2019 (fax)
vargo@pnl.gov
http://insp.pnl.gov:2080 

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