Worldwide Nuclear Industry's Views on the Evolution of International Radiological Protection Policies Proposed by the ICRP

Abstract

For several years, international policy on radiological protection has been under discussion with a view to a significant revision (recently delayed until 2007). The focal point of this discussion has been an evolving draft proposal of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The current ICRP draft proposal, which is entitled: “2005 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection”, was presented in May 2004 at a key international conference called IRPA-11. This paper presents the World Nuclear Association (WNA) views on this ICRP draft proposal. It reveals a few of the most fundamental ‘Profound Changes’ that this draft proposal includes as well as a few key factors that show that the general context in the area of radiological protection (RP) does not warrant such ‘Profound Changes’. The WNA views are that the current RP system can and should be improved through consolidation and simplification with substantive changes being focused to correct specifically identified shortcomings or weaknesses. Our review of the ICRP draft proposal and related foundation documentation confirmed that they fall short especially in terms of an overall rationale for the proposed changes. In other words, they do not seem to clearly identify the shortcomings or weaknesses of the current RP system or explain how the proposed changes specifically help to address them. We believe that before considering moving forward, this step is essential in order to fully understand and carefully assess any substantive changes to the current RP system. Moreover, for a careful and smooth evolution of the current RP system, it is essential that any proposed changes do not unnecessarily disturb the current RP system for “Practices”. WNA therefore feels it important to first draw the attention of the international RP community to the WNA views about the ICRP draft proposal in the context of continuing to build an international consensus towards an improved draft proposal. In this paper, these views are presented in the following categories: I. Areas that seem to be in line with the current international consensus; II. Areas that seem to have evolved but need to progress further; III. Areas that seem to depart from the current international consensus. In view of the upcoming ICRP deliberations, we hope that this information could be useful to a wide range of interested parties for the preparation of their own submissions to ICRP.