Radiation and protection of the environment: the work of Committee 5

The development of a systematic approach to protection of the environment has required a number of basic steps to be taken, including a discussion of what objectives could reasonably be set, together with an examination of how existing knowledge could best be used in order to achieve them. It has required bold decisions to be made, new modelling to be undertaken, and new data sets to be compiled. Equally challenging, however, has been the need to fold the entire subject area into an expanded system originally developed for the protection of human beings. There are, inevitably, a number of data gaps, and further decisions need to be made. However, the priority now is to examine how this approach to protection of the environment can be used in practice. With an intensifying worldwide debate about the environmental merits of different forms of energy production, it would seem imperative that the various practices involved in the nuclear fuel cycle are able to demonstrate, clearly and independently, their own actual or potential impact on the environment. The International Commission on Radiological Protection now has the basic means for such evaluations to be made, and further developments in this system will reflect the experience of its practical application.