Radiation Safety of Population: Experience and Ways of Improvement

Abstract

The article describes the results of the activities of the department of radiation safety of the population of the A.I. Burnasyan FMBC of FMBA over the period from the foundation of the Center to the present.
 Results: The priority in the activity of the Institute of Biophysics, created in 1946, was the development of issues of radiation safety of the personnel and the public during the implementation of a nuclear project. The basic scientific direction «radiation safety of the population» was formed as an independent unit by 1955. Today, the department of radiation safety of the population of FMBC is a scientific, practical and methodological unit which deals with radiation and chemical safety including an assessment of health of the population living in the vicinity of Russian nuclear facilities. The main priorities of activity include: radiation-health physics monitoring and health physics regulation; monitoring the health of the population; expert activity in medical nuclear forensics. Scientific research in the field of protection and safety and improving the state health and epidemiological supervision covers the population living in the areas of enterprises under FMBA’s of Russia service, including nuclear shipbuilding facilities, nuclear and uranium legacy of Russia and Central Asia, nuclear power plants, cosmodromes, etc.
 Conclusion: In general, summarizing the 75-year activity in the field of the public radiation protection and safety, the following can be stated. Over the past years, a set of health physics works has been carried out at nuclear facilities, a methodology for radiation and health physics monitoring has been developed in conjunction with monitoring the public health, methods for determining man-made and natural radionuclides in food and environmental media have been developed and introduced into practice. The implementation of our new scientific developments and future prospects will be aimed at reducing the burden of medical problems associated with the operation of various radiation hazardous facilities and legacy management; raising the level and quality of life of the relevant contingents of the Russian population; as well as the creation of the necessary conditions for the successful development of nuclear energy in the Russian Federation.