'Reasonable' regulation of low doses in The Netherlands?
As long as it is not clear exactly what the risks of low doses are, exposures should be regulated to be 'as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA). In radiation protection, for normal situations, this means that a projected dose reduction can only be obligatory when the efforts needed to achieve the reduction are 'reasonable' in comparison with it, economical and social aspects being taken into account. In the recent Dutch regulations, 'reasonable' values have been established for the relevant parameters used in the ALARA concept and the paper discusses the values required to calculate the doses for the critical group due to a source. In some cases, the effort expended in making the ALARA dose assessments might not be reasonable in comparison with the dose reduction to be expected. The system which has been developed in the Netherlands to avoid these 'unreasonable' dose calculations, measurements and assessments is explained.
Zuur
Ciska
C
Radiation, Nuclear and Biological Safety, DG for the Environment, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and of the Environment, DEN HAAG, The Netherlands.
D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*