Re: ALARA

["Gibbs, S Julian" <s.julian.gibbs@vanderbilt.edu>]

My long-term memory (which is frequently very foggy) tells 
me that ALARA was adopted, not introduced, by NRC.  Years 
ago I was on a NCRP committee drafting a report on ALARA in 
health care.  Everyone was complaining about NRC 
misinterpreting the ICRP's term, especially trying to make 
what was intended as a voluntary program into a mandatory 
one.  In any event, the committee put together 
recommendations for a purely voluntary program to reduce 
unnecessary occupational exposure, with the emphasis on the 
R, not the ALAA.  I still consider such a program as 
proper.  Any regulatory use of ALARA completely changes its 
meaning, making it effectively a reduced dose limit.  That 
is not what anybody (except a few regulators) had in mind.

****************************************************************
S. Julian Gibbs, DDS, PhD                    Voice: 615-322-3190
Professor of Radiology                         FAX: 615-322-3764 
Dept. of Radiology & Radiological Sciences
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville TN 37232-2670     Email: s.julian.gibbs@Vanderbilt.Edu