Radiological health standards

Except for large scale accidental releases (e.g. nuclear explosions or catastrophic accidents at nuclear plants), water will be the main transport medium of plutonium to man. Therefore the size and location of plutonium sources, its pathways to man and its behaviour in natural waters are essential knowledge required for the evaluation of its ecological impact. That information, combined with radiological health standards, allows an assessment of the overall risk to the public from plutonium e.g. from a waste repository for spent unreprocessed reactor fuel elements in deep granite bedrock (8, 9). ... 

An ISO standard, it should be noted, is a document that undergoes periodic review and is subject to revision. Recently, the FDA, more specifically the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), has been considering the use of international consensus standards for the toxicological evaluation of medical devices. 

Emissions from specific sources of air pollution linked to potentially serious health problems are limited by the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) in 40 CFR 61. The NESHAPS regulations are a subset of the EPA Clean Air Act. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) are identified as chemical or radioactive hazards. The radiological NESHAPS regulations pertain to pollutants that emit radiation from sources such as academic institutions, hospitals, industry, vehicles, and nature (such as radon). 

In the field of radiation safety, the basic document by which the health and inspection protection bodies are guided is Radiation safety standards (RSS-76). These standards were worked out on the basis of recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and establish the system of dose-limits and principles of their application. The health regulations for design and operation of nuclear power plants, issued in 1978, further develop and specify the basic RSS-76 document to include siting, monitoring, and inspection problems. 

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