Re: ALARA

[Andy Hull <hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov>]

For what it may be worth in the consideration of ALARA, my recollection is
that when  it was  first proposed in the early 1970s draft Appendix I in
general terms, a number  of utilities objected that it was too vague.  So
in response the NRC came up with specific numerical values for ALARA in the
context of doses from routine releases from power reactors. In my
recollection, this was the first regulatory definition of ALARA.




At 02:58 PM 12/10/97 -0600, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>