Re: 4x Re: Supplemental Radilogical Criteria

[Fritz Seiler <faseiler@nmia.com>]

Dear Dr. Feinhals,

The LNT is indeed the culprit, as the BEIR III statement referred to is
a thoughtless application of linearity to doses that disappear in the noise
(variations of the background does!).  The threshold similiar to the one
you mention has been defined in terms of a simile to background noise
by my colleague Joe Alvarez and myself (F.A. Seiler and J.L. Alvarez,
"Definition of a Minimum Significant Risk."  Technology: Journal of the
Franklin Institute,  331A, 83-95, 1994).  In that paper the role of the
noise is assigned to the random and systematic errors inherent in a risk
calculation, and this limit is shown to lie at absolute risks larger than
1E-3 or even 1E-2, depending on the confidence level assumed.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Fritz Seiler

Dr. Feinhals wrote:

> To the philosophical interest of Bill Lipton (and others):
>
> The de minimis principle is based on the requirement that the dose is so low,
> that no measures for radiation protection are required - the trivial dose.
> Most authors proposing values of trivial individual dose have set the level
> of annual risk of death which is held to be of no concern to the individual
> at 1E-6 to 1E-7. Taking a rounded risk factor of 1E-2 per Sv for whole body
> exposure as a broad average over age and sex, the level of trivial individual
> effective dose equivalent would be in the range of 0.01 to 0.1mSv/a.
> That means to me, if this dose is trivial, the risk will be the same.
> Perhaps, the fatal error lies in the linear dose model. There is a threshold
> we should consider - the trivial risk threshold.
>
> Merry Xmas!
>
> Joerg Feinhals
> feinhals@tuev-nord.de
>
> This opinion is not strictly mine, it is from safety series 89 of IAEA!
>
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*************************

Fritz A. Seiler, Ph.D.
Principal
Sigma Five Associates
P.O. Box 14006
Albuquerque, NM 87191-4006
Tel.    505-323-7848
Fax.    505-293-3911
e-mail: faseiler@nmia.com

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