Determination of Allowable Risk or Dose

Evaluation of the risk index (RI) in Equation 1.1 or 1.2 requires assumptions about allowable risks or doses from waste disposal to be used in defining the different waste classes (see Section 1.4.1). These assumptions should be based on an understanding of differences in the approaches to risk management for radionuclides and hazardous chemicals embodied in current laws and regulations, including the different meanings that have been attached to the terms acceptable and unacceptable commonly used to describe the significance of health risks. 

The approach to risk management for radionuclides, when they are regulated under AEA, incorporates a limit on acceptable dose (and therefore risk) and a requirement that doses be reduced below the limit as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), economic and social factors being taken into account this approach conforms to NCRP s recommendations on radiation protection. In this approach, risks to individuals are divided into three categories of significance, which are commonly termed unacceptable, acceptable, and negligible.  

A negligible dose or risk from exposure to radionuclides has not been established in regulations under AEA. However, based on recommendations of NCRP and IAEA, excess lifetime cancer risks on the order of 1CP4 or less generally could be considered negligible. 

Description of Risk Interpretation in Risk Management for Radionuclides 1 Interpretation in Risk Management for Hazardous Chemicals  

8 Approach to risk management for hazardous chemicals does not explicitly include concept of an intolerable risk that normally must be reduced regardless of cost or other circumstances. 

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