Optimisation of environmental remediation: how to select and use the reference levels

A number of past industrial activities and accidents have resulted in the radioactive contamination
of large areas at many sites around the world, giving rise to a need for remediation. According to
the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), such situations should be managed as existing exposure situations (ExESs). Control of
exposure to the public in ExESs is based on the application of appropriate reference levels (RLs)
for residual doses. The implementation of this potentially fruitful concept for the optimisation of
remediation in various regions is hampered by a lack of practical experience and relevant guidance.
This paper suggests a generic methodology for the selection of numeric values of relevant RLs both
in terms of residual annual effective dose and derived RLs (DRLs) based on an appropriate dose
assessment. The value for an RL should be selected in the range of the annual residual effective
dose of 1...

Source: Journal of Radiological Protection - June 4, 2018 Category: Physics Authors: M Balonov, L Chipiga, S Kiselev, M Sneve, T Yankovich and G Proehl Source Type: research