Re: FW: NORM (understanding nuclear power/ICRP)

["Bjorn Cedervall" <bcradsafers@HOTMAIL.COM>]

<< It was said that some differential equations may have to be

  replaced by common sense. >>



huh?  Common sense told Archimedes that a ball kept rolling until it stopped

of its own accord.  The calculus was a formulation of  Newtons physics,

including Newton's second law.  Differential calculus is calcuus of more 

than

one dependent variable.

----



I think that what was actually meant is that sometimes the considerations

can be very theoretical but with little (or no) practical value - in 

particular

when we are dealing with low doses (say one to two magnitudes below

the natural background). The "common sense" part I took as an alternative

wording of "trivialities".



I do not want all calculus etc to be thrown out - I use that in my own work

(DSBs etc). The strange provocations come when we project small radioactive

releases and the resulting doses into the future - and multiply by billions

of people. This is not done for other activities - a hot dog stand could

release a hydrocarbon molecule that in principle contributes to the

killing of someone on the other side of the planet say seventy years

from now (but seriously - does anyone care?). Dose committment for

populations may be justified when we are chosing between various

alternatives but we cannot justify stretching any trivialities too far - the

problem is more about agreeing on where we have enter the domain

of trivialities.



Some of the calculus (ICRP 60 for instance) may be valuable when

we are considering "probability of causation".



Best regards,



Bjorn Cedervall       bcradsafers@hotmail.com





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