Re: Collective dose and its monetary valuation -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Bonjour

The HPS position statement of 1993 dealing with dose limits for the
general public addresses this issue. It states:
"We recommend that all radiation doses, including those below the
annual dose limit, be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).."
and "For avoiding small radiation doses (i.e. less than 1 rem per
year) distributed randomly throughout society, the appropriate
expenditure is a few tens of dollars per person-rem avoided"

To support this position, they say that the average fatal cancer
results in a loss of 5000 days of life, and given a probability of
5E-4 fatal cancers per rem, this is a loss of 2.5 days per rem. This
they convert to a detriment of 4 days They go on to say that the
public is willing and able to spend 5 to 10 dollars per day of life
saved. Working with 10 dollars per day of life saved, they calculate:
10 bucks/person-day x 4 days per rem or 40 dollars per rem avoided.

Best wishes

Paul Frame
Professional Training Programs
ORISE
framep@orau.gov