Society's valuation of life saving in radiation protection and other contexts

Various situations are described in which societal action may be interpreted as a dollar value placed on averting a human fatality, and numerical values are derived in each case. Situations included are a variety of medical screening and medical care programs and of automobile and highway safety measures, food for overseas relief, air pollution control, fire prevention, industrial safety, and several radiation-related activities including standards for radium in drinking water, radwaste systems in nuclear plants, and defense and civilian high-level waste management. Values varying from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars per fatality averted are obtained. An attempt to derive data of this type from polling is described. The problem of discounting when money is spent now to save lives far in the future (as with nuclear waste) is discussed. It is concluded that nearly all of the vast variation in the results is unjustified and represents a need for educating the public, especially in the area of radiation protection.