This Safety Guide, co-sponsored by the ILO, addresses the assessment of exposure to external sources of radiation in the workplace and the monitoring of workers and the workplace in such situations. It also reflects the major changes over the past decade in international practice in external dose assessment. It further provides the necessary guidance to meet the requirements as laid down in Safety Series No. 115, International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources.

The present Safety Guide addresses the assessment of exposure to external sources of radiation in the workplace and the monitoring of workers and the workplace in such situations. It also reflects the major changes over the past decade in international practice in external dose assessment. It further provides the necessary guidance to meet the requirements as laid down in Safety Series No. 115, International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (1996).

The Safety Guide, co-sponsored by the ILO, addresses the assessment of exposure due to intakes of radionuclides in the workplace and reflects the major changes which have occurred in international practice in internal dose assessment over the past decade. The report further provides the necessary guidance to meet the requirements as laid down in Safety Series No. 115, International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources.

This book is the seventh in a series of titles from the National Research Council that addresses the effects of exposure to low dose LET (Linear Energy Transfer) ionizing radiation and human health. Updating information previously presented in the 1990 publication, Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation: BEIR V, this book draws upon new data in both epidemiologic and experimental research. Ionizing radiation arises from both natural and man-made sources and at very high doses can produce damaging effects in human tissue that can be evident within days after exposure. However, it is the low-dose exposures that are the focus of this book. So-called “late” effects, such as cancer, are produced many years after the initial exposure. This book is among the first of its kind to include detailed risk estimates for cancer incidence in addition to cancer mortality. BEIR VII offers a full review of the available biological, biophysical, and epidemiological literature since the last BEIR report on the subject and develops the most up-to-date and comprehensive risk estimates for cancer and other health effects from exposure to low-level ionizing radiation.

The present Safety Guide provides general guidance on the establishment of an effective radiation protection programme for occupational exposure, appropriate for the sources of radiation likely to be encountered in a range of industries, medical institutions, educational and research establishments and nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The report further provides the necessary guidance to meet the requirements as laid down in Safety Series No. 115, International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (1996).

Naturally occurring radionuclides are found throughout the earth's crust, and they form part of the natural background of radiation to which all humans are exposed. Many human activities-such as mining and milling of ores, extraction of petroleum products, use of groundwater for domestic purposes, and living in houses-alter the natural background of radiation either by moving naturally occurring radionuclides from inaccessible locations to locations where humans are present or by concentrating the radionuclides in the exposure environment. Such alterations of the natural environment can increase, sometimes substantially, radiation exposures of the public. Exposures of the public to naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) that result from human activities that alter the natural environment can be subjected to regulatory control, at least to some degree. The regulation of public exposures to such technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory and advisory organizations is the subject of this study by the National Research Council's Committee on the Evaluation of EPA Guidelines for Exposures to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.