Re: lifetime TEDE limit -Reply

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Charlie Willis stated the following:

> If a person already has high enough dose to
> affect his/her life expectancy, it would further reduce the theoretical
> risk from additional dose.

While still a member of the NEI Radiation Protection and 
Recordkeeping AdHoc Committee, this issue had been discussed, 
as to whether or not a lifetime limit should be implemented. In 
addition to the information provided by Charlie, the discussion 
centered around the fact that in today's environment, exposures are 
lower than ever before. Those individuals who had the highest 
lifetime doses have been weeded out of the work-force, due to 
attrition, retirement or death. Those individuals in the work-force 
today are in most cases, maintaining occupational exposure at a 
fraction of those experienced even ago. In the power reactor world, 
INPO had implemented a Good Practice whereby individual 
exposures were to be maintained below the 5 rem/year, even prior 
to the current regulatory limit being implemented. 
Person-rem/reactor goals were established to facilitate new ways 
of doing work, utilizing and tools, such as robotics, etc. These have 
all resulted in very low doses. All of these actions have worked, 
and based on this, the logic that would have forced a lifetime limit, 
for all practical purposes, have been mitigated.

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com

Personal Website:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -

The opinions expressed are solely, absolutely, positively, definitely those of the author, and NOT my employer
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