Re: ALARA

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 15:36 03.04.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Jeff Hoffman stated the following:
>
>> Can some of you actually be arguing against ALARA?  Don't you think it
>> good to minimize your dose? 
>
>Jeff,
>
>I would say that the issue isn't whether or not ALARA is a good or 
>bad, rather it's the degree to which it is applied. In your example, 
>you reference a dose of 1 rem. The question then is, would you apply 
>the same level of effort to reduce a dose of 0.1 rem as you would to 
>the dose of 1 rem? Obviously the answer is no. The Reg. Guides and 
>other guidance documents seem to forget that degree of relevance is 
>an important consideration. I personally believe that we do not need 
>to expend hundreds of millions of dollar each and every year to 
>reduce dose that poses no measurable consequences or risks to those 
>who receive the dose. 

Sandy,

Sorry, but to spend hundreds of millions of dollar each and every year to
reduce dose that poses no measurable consequences.... is  n o t  ALARA! It
is ALAPAAC (as low as possible at any cost) - and this does not make any
sense, I agree. 

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
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