title: Reconsideration of the minimum dose constraint for public exposures in radiological protection.
abstract: By using a probabilistic approach, the effects of the dose distribution of radiation due to man-made radioactive nuclides when added to those of natural background radiation have been studied. These results show that additional exposure to man-made radiation of up to 0.5 mSv y(-1) (as a dose constraint) would not significantly change the distribution of total public doses. Taking into consideration such probabilistic analysis and rationales of derivations of exemption and clearance levels, it can be concluded that the minimum dose constraint that requires optimisation in radiation protection, should be set to 0.1 mSv y(-1), which is one-order magnitude higher than 0.01 mSv y(-1), the current dose criterion for exemption and clearance.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Safety Research Center, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), 2-11-1, Iwadokita, Komae-shi, Tokyo, Japan. thattori@criepi.denken.or.jp
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hattori
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011835:Radiation Protection