NCRP Releases Report No. 146

["Strom, Daniel J" <strom@PNL.GOV>]

On October 15, 2004, the National Council on Radiation Protection and

Measurements (NCRP; www.NCRPonline.org/ncrprpts.html) published

"Approaches to Risk Management in Remediation of Radioactively

Contaminated Sites," Report No. 146.  The report is the result of a

project begun in August, 2002 sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission. 



To research and write Report 146, the NCRP formed Scientific Committee

87-5, chaired by Daniel J. Strom of the Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory (PNNL). Members of SC 87-5 included Lynn R. Anspaugh

(University of Utah), James Flynn (Decision Research), F. Owen Hoffman

(SENES Oak Ridge), David C. Kocher (SENES Oak Ridge), Paul A. Locke

(Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Paul J. Merges

(Environment and Radiation Specialists, Inc.), Bruce A. Napier (PNNL),

and E. Ivan White (NCRP Staff). The report analyzes the regulatory

approaches of both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (under its

"License Termination Rule") and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(under Superfund) in managing risks at sites such as nuclear power

plants, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, defense sites, and other sites

with radioactive contamination. Even though the two agencies have

clashed in the past over cleanup standards, the report finds that either

agency's approach can be protective of public health and the environment

when there is meaningful stakeholder involvement.



NRC concerns itself with radiological risk. Under Superfund, EPA is

responsible for both chemical and radiological risk. To find a common

currency between the two, EPA uses lifetime cancer incidence rather than

detriment (fatal and non-fatal cancers and heritable ill-health). EPA

does not use dose! There never really was a "15 mrem versus 25 mrem

controversy," since EPA doesn't use millirems. A reasonable comparison

of EPA's and NRC's approaches to risk management requires a 280-page

report because there are so many other factors involved. Perhaps the

most critical among these is the end-use of the land to be remediated,

since acceptable residual contamination standards may vary over a factor

of 300 between a resident farmer scenario and a recreational scenario.

Other factors include exposure time assumed for the risk assessment,

treatment of groundwater as if it were potential drinking water (even if

it isn't potable), and many other factors discussed in the report.



A simple list of conclusions is available as a PowerPoint slide show

from last summer's HPS meeting at

http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strompub.htm#Strom2004E.



Reference



National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. 2004.

Approaches to Risk Management in Remediation of Radioactively

Contaminated Sites. NCRP Report No. 146, NCRP Publications, Bethesda,

Maryland. 



Strom DJ, LR Anspaugh, J Flynn, FO Hoffman, DC Kocher, PA Locke, PJ

Merges, BA Napier, and EI White. 2004.   "Risk Management for

Decommissioning and Remediation of Radioactively Contaminated Sites"

PNNL-SA-40444. Paper MAM-C.3 presented Monday, 12 July 2004 at the 49th

Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society, Washington, DC. 



- Dan Strom



The opinions expressed above, if any, are mine alone and have not been

reviewed or approved by Battelle, the Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory, or the U.S. Department of Energy.



Daniel J. Strom, Ph.D., CHP

Environmental Technology Directorate, Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory

Mail Stop K3-56, PO BOX 999, Richland, Washington 99352-0999 USA

Overnight: Battelle for the U.S. DOE, 790 6th St., Richland WA 99354

ATTN: Dan Strom K3-56

Telephone (509) 375-2626 FAX (509) 375-2019 mailto:strom@pnl.gov

Brief Resume: http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strombio.htm

Online Publications: http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian/strom/strompub.htm

Pagemaster for  http://www.pnl.gov/bayesian   http://qecc.pnl.gov

http://bidug.pnl.gov





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