In the last 30 days

• Open/close New ICRP recommendations

  A D Wrixon 2008 J. Radiol. Prot. 28 161 Tag this article

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  This paper provides a review of the 2007 recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). These new recommendations take account of the latest biological and physical information and consolidate the additional guidance provided by ICRP since 1990. The changes to the scientific data are not substantial. ICRP has retained its fundamental hypothesis for the induction of stochastic effects of linearity of dose and effect without threshold and a dose and dose-rate effectiveness factor (DDREF) of 2 to derive nominal risk coefficients for low doses and low dose rates. While the overall detriment from low radiation doses has remained unchanged, ICRP has made adjustments to the values of the radiation and tissue weighting factors. In particular, the tissue weighting factor for breast has increased while that for gonads has decreased. There are some presentational changes to the system of protection. While ICRP has maintained the three fundamental principles—justification, optimisation of protection, and dose limitation—it has attempted to develop a more holistic approach to radiological protection covering all exposure situations—planned, existing and emergency—and all radiation sources, whether of natural or artificial origin. This approach should ensure that attention is focused on those exposures that can reasonably be controlled. It has also strengthened the principle of optimisation of protection with a particular emphasis on the use of constraints for planned exposure situations and reference levels for existing and emergency exposure situations. Dose constraints and reference levels are categorised into three bands which should assist in rationalising the many values of dose restrictions given in earlier ICRP publications. There are no changes to the dose limits. ICRP also indicates its intentions with respect to the development of further guidance on the protection of the environment. The fact that these new recommendations are more a matter of consolidation of previous ICRP recommendations and guidance should provide confidence that the system of protection established by and large in its present form several decades ago has reached a certain level of maturity. As such, no major changes to radiological protection regulations based on the 1990 recommendations should be necessary.

• Open/close The Windscale reactor accident—50 years on

  Richard Wakeford 2007 J. Radiol. Prot. 27 211 Tag this article

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  The full text of the Invited Editorial is given in the PDF file.

• Open/close Radiation accidents over the last 60 years

  Jean-Claude Nénot 2009 J. Radiol. Prot. 29 301 Tag this article

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  Since the end of the Second World War, industrial and medical uses of radiation have been considerably increasing. Accidental overexposures of persons, in either the occupational or public field, have caused deaths and severe injuries and complications. The rate of severe accidents seems to increase with time, especially those involving the public; in addition, accidents are often not immediately recognised, which means that the real number of events remains unknown. Human factors, as well as the lack of elementary rules in the domains of radiological safety and protection, such as inadequate training, play a major role in the occurrence of the accidents which have been reported in the industrial, medical and military arenas.

• Open/close WHO's public health agenda in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident

  Emilie van Deventer et al 2012 J. Radiol. Prot. 32 N119 Tag this article

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  The World Health Organization (WHO) has responded to the 2011 East-Japan earthquake and tsunami through the three levels of its decentralised structure. It has provided public health advice regarding a number of issues relating to protective measures, potassium iodide use, as well as safety of food and drinking water, mental health, travel, tourism, and trade. WHO is currently developing an initial health risk assessment linked to a preliminary evaluation of radiation exposure around the world from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Lessons learned from this disaster are likely to help future emergency response to multi-faceted disasters.

• Open/close And now, Fukushima

  Richard Wakeford 2011 J. Radiol. Prot. 31 167 Tag this article

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  The full text of the Editorial is given in the PDF file.

• Open/close Radiation epidemiology: a perspective on Fukushima

  John D Boice Jr 2012 J. Radiol. Prot. 32 N33 Tag this article

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  For nearly 100 years, epidemiologic studies of human populations exposed to ionising radiation have provided quantitative information on health risks. High dose deterministic (tissue reaction) effects result when sufficient numbers of functioning cells are killed, such as in bone marrow depression that can lead to death. Lower dose stochastic effects are probabilistic in nature and include an increased risk of cancer later in life and heritable genetic defects, although genetic conditions in the children of irradiated parents have yet to be convincingly demonstrated. Radiation studies are of diverse populations and include not only the Japanese atomic bomb survivors, but also patients treated with radiation for malignant and non-malignant disease; patients exposed for diagnostic purposes; persons with intakes of radionuclides; workers occupationally exposed; and communities exposed to environmental and accidentally released sources of radiation. Much is known about radiation and its risks. The major unanswered question in radiation epidemiology, however, is not whether radiation causes cancer, but what the level of risk is following low dose (<100 mSv) or low dose rate exposures. Paracelsus is credited with first articulating that the 'poison is in the dose', which for radiation epidemiology translates as 'the lower the dose, the lower the risk' and, an important corollary, the lower the dose, the greater the difficulty in detecting any increase in the number of cancers possibly attributable to radiation. In contrast to the Chernobyl reactor accident, the Fukushima reactor accident has to date resulted in no deterministic effects and no worker deaths. Estimates to date of population doses suggest very low uptakes of radioactive iodine which was a major determinant of the epidemic of thyroid cancer following childhood exposures around Chernobyl. The estimates to date of population doses are also much lower (and the distribution much narrower) than the doses for which cancer excesses have been detected among atomic bomb survivors after 60 years of follow-up. Studies of populations exposed to low doses are also limited in their ability to account for important lifestyle factors, such as cigarette smoking and medical x-ray exposures, which could distort findings. Studies of the Fukushima population should be and are being considered for reassurance and health care reasons. Apart from as regards the extreme psychological stress caused by the horrific loss of life following the tsunami and the large-scale evacuation from homes and villages, such studies have limited to no chance of providing information on possible health risks following low dose exposures received gradually over time—the estimated doses (to date) are just too small.

• Open/close Epidemiological studies of Fukushima residents exposed to ionising radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant prefecture—a preliminary review of current plans

  Suminori Akiba 2012 J. Radiol. Prot. 32 1 Tag this article

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  It is now more than six months since the beginning of the accident on 11 March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The Japanese government and local health authorities have started to collect the information necessary to estimate radiation doses received by those living in the area around the plant, drafted plans for the health care of residents, and started to implement some of them. This paper reviews and discusses the studies necessary for risk evaluation of cancer and non-cancer diseases, including those already planned, mainly from the view point of evaluating health risk using epidemiological approaches. In the long run, it is important to establish a cohort with a control group. Even if the cumulative doses are estimated to be so low that it is difficult to evaluate the risk of cancer and non-cancer diseases, it is necessary to conduct such a study to reassure residents. The health care programme of the Fukushima Prefecture government, including health check-ups of residents, will help to assess indirect effects of radiation exposure, including psychological problems.

  The success of any studies of radiation epidemiology depends on the collection of accurate information on radiation doses received by the study subjects. However, some of the dosimetry surveys were not conducted in a timely manner. (It should be recognised, though, that such a problem might have been inevitable, considering the chaotic condition after the nuclear accident.) Accurate estimation of the radiation dose received by each resident is not only important for scientific risk evaluation but also to inform each resident about his or her potential risk. Otherwise, residents will bear an undue psychological burden from uncertainties regarding their radiation exposure and its health consequences. One of other important tasks in Fukushima is the improvement of the quality of the regional cancer registry in this prefecture. It is also important to start thyroid cancer screening in a year or two since the expected minimum latent period among those exposed in early childhood is about 4 years. Recently, local health authorities decided to start a thyroid screening programme for those aged 18 years or younger.

  Any scientific efforts in Fukushima, which need to gain the trust of study subjects about the objectivity of research, may suffer from the fact that residents in Fukushima Prefecture have begun to suspect that the Japanese government and local authorities are keeping important information from them. It seems necessary to make more effort to reflect the opinions of residents when planning health care programmes and to gain the understanding of the public for the programme. In summary, there are many problems that make the evaluation of cancer and non-cancer disease risk in Fukushima difficult. The help of international colleagues will be invaluable for overcoming those problems. In this paper, these efforts are briefly summarised and some comments are made.

• Open/close Medical effects and risks of exposure to ionising radiation

  Fred A Mettler 2012 J. Radiol. Prot. 32 N9 Tag this article

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  Effects and risk from exposure to ionising radiation depend upon the absorbed dose, dose rate, quality of radiation, specifics of the tissue irradiated and other factors such as the age of the individual. Effects may be apparent almost immediately or may take decades to be manifest. Cancer is the most important stochastic effect at absorbed doses of less than 1 Gy. The risk of cancer induction varies widely across different tissues; however, the risk of fatal radiation-induced cancer for a general population following chronic exposure is about 5 % Sv ⁻¹. Quantification of cancer risk at doses of less than 0.1 Gy remains problematic. Hereditary risks from irradiation that might result in effects to offspring of humans appear to be much lower and any such potential risks can only be estimated from animal models. At high doses (over 1 Gy) cell killing and modification causes deterministic effects such as skin burns, and bone marrow depression, in which case immunosuppression becomes a critical issue. Acute whole body penetrating gamma irradiation at doses in excess of 2 Gy results in varying degrees of acute radiation sickness and doses over 10 Gy are usually lethal as a result of combined organ injury.

• Open/close Conclusions and recommendations of the International Expert Symposium in Fukushima: Radiation and Health Risks

  International Expert Symposium in Fukushima 2011 J. Radiol. Prot. 31 381 Tag this article

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  The full text of the Invited Editorial is given in the PDF file.

• Open/close Lessons from Chernobyl and prognosis for Fukushima: radiological consequences

  Victor K Ivanov 2012 J. Radiol. Prot. 32 N55 Tag this article

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  The following are considered: results of large-scale radiation epidemiological studies of the health effects of the Chernobyl accident, radiation risks for emergency workers and the affected population; and verification of ICRP risk models taking into account data on the Chernobyl accident and preliminary prognostic estimates of potential radiological consequences of the Fukushima disaster.