RE: comparing individual and collective doses

["Jean-Pierre Degrange" <degrange@cepn.asso.fr>]

- -----Original Message-----

From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu] On Behalf Of Michael McNaughton

Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 2:31 PM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: comparing individual and collective doses





Dear RadSafers



I have often read that when applying the ALARA principle, it is important

to consider both individual and collective dose equivalents. Is there any

guidance on how to compare these two? For example, how would one compare n

mrem to the most exposed individual member of the public with a collective

dose of n rem distributed evenly among a million people?



mike

Mike McNaughton

Los Alamos National Lab.

email: mcnaught@LANL.gov or mcnaughton@LANL.gov

phone: 505-667-6130



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A possibility to deal simultaneously with both individual and collective

dose in the ALARA process is to use a monetary value of collective dose that

depends on the level of individual dose.



Such a scheme of monetary value of  collective dose has been adopted and

applied by a number of organisations

(see annex 3 of "The use of the man-Sievert monetary value in 1997, CEPN

information sheet, ISOE European Technical Centre, 1998 ;

http://isoe.cepn.asso.fr/pdf/IS-18.pdf)



You may note in addition that the different valuation of similar collective

doses depending on the level of underlying individual doses is coherent with

the recommendation to aggregate comparable levels of individual doses for

producing collective doses. Assigning higher monetary values to collective

dose resulting from higher levels of individual dose is also a way to

concentrate the optimisation efforts on the highest levels of individual

dose, as recommended by ICRP.



(My personal opinion, not necessarily my company's...)



Jean-Pierre Degrange



---------------------------------------------------

Jean-Pierre Degrange

CEPN, BP 48

92263 Fontenay aux Roses CEDEX

France

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