ALLIANCE perspectives on integration of humans and the environment into the system of radiological protection

Abstract

Risks posed by the presence of radionuclides in the environment require an efficient, balanced, and adaptable assessment for protecting exposed humans and wildlife, and managing the associated radiological risk. Exposure of humans and wildlife originate from the same sources releasing radionuclides to the environment. Environmental concentrations of radionuclides serve as inputs to estimate the dose to man, fauna, and flora, with transfer processes being, in essence, similar, which calls for a common use of transport models. Dose estimates are compared with the radiological protection criteria for humans and wildlife, such as those developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. This indicates a similarity in the approaches for impact assessment in humans and wildlife, although some elements are different (e.g. the protection endpoint for humans is stochastic effects on individuals, whereas for wildlife, it is deterministic effects on species and ecosystems). Human and environmental assessments are consistent and complementary in terms of how they are conducted and in terms of the underlying databases (where appropriate). Not having an integrated approach may cause difficulties for operators and regulators, for communication to stakeholders, and may even hamper decision making. For optimised risk assessment and management, the impact from non-radiation contaminants and stressors should also be considered. Both in terms of the underlying philosophy and the application via appropriate tools, the European Radioecology Alliance (ALLIANCE) upholds that integration of human and ecological impact and risk assessment is recommended from several perspectives (e.g. chemical/radiological risks).

The 2019 Bo Lindell Laureate Lecture: On the use of interdisciplinary, stakeholder-driven, radiation protection research in support of medical uses of ionising radiation

“…Furthermore, sustainability of research does not rely solely on funding, training, and retention of early career scientists; going forward, this also implies the additional consideration of environmental aspects of research – including (but certainly not limited to) the wider environmental and non-human implications of the use of ionising radiation in society and the research methods employed in this field (e.g. Vandenhove et al., 2018), and the use of video and other conferencing facilities to replace travel to limit the carbon footprint of research. Only by considering all of these aspects will radiation protection research be genuinely integrated into society, and be seen to be socially responsible and well oriented to address the needs of society.…”

The work programme of EURADOS on internal and external dosimetry

“…eurados.org, while an extended summary was published by . Similar SRAs were also developed by the other European research platforms MELODI (Repussard et al, 2018), ALLIANCE (Vandenhove et al, 2018), NERIS (Schneider et al, 2018), and EURAMED (Hoeschen et al, 2018).…”

Cellular and Molecular Effects of Ionizing Radiation

“…İyonlaştırıcı radyasyon maruziyetinin yönetimi ve kontrolü, deterministik etkilerin oluşmaması ve sitokastik etkilerin oluşturabileceği risklerin en az düzeyde görülebilmesidir. Coğrafik farklılıklar olsa da toplumun aldığı yıllık radyasyon dozu Uluslararası Radyasyondan Korunma Komitesi (International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP) tarafından 1 mSv olarak belirlenirken yaban hayat için bir doz belirlenmemiştir (5). Japonya'daki atom bombası sonrasında yapılan epidemiyolojik çalışmalardan elde edilen veriler, radyasyon maruziyeti ile karsinojenez arasındaki nedensel ilişki hakkında önemli kanıtlar sağlamıştır (6).…”

“…International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP) tarafından 1 mSv olarak belirlenirken yaban hayat için bir doz belirlenmemiştir(5). Japonya'daki atom bombası sonrasında yapılan epidemiyolojik çalışmalardan elde edilen veriler, radyasyon maruziyeti ile karsinojenez arasındaki nedensel ilişki hakkında önemli kanıtlar sağlamıştır(6).…”