History, current status, and trends of radiation protection standards

Quantitative standards for protection against exposure to ionizing radiation were first formulated in the 1930s. Since that time, standards have been restated periodically in different radiation units and conceptual frameworks that reflect improved understanding of the biological effects of radiation interactions and their consequences for human health. In the 1970s the expression of protection standards shifted from a dose- to a risk-based approach, with dose limits established to yield risks to radiation workers comparable with those for workers in other "safe" industries. Over the years, radiation protection standards have exhibited a downward trend to more rigorous limits that require increased commitments of personnel and resources for their enforcement. There are several reasons for this trend, including increased recognition of the long-term health effects of radiation, improved protection measures that permit radiation use at lower levels of exposure, growing numbers of persons exposed occupationally to radiation, and probably a greater intolerance to involuntary risks in society, with radiation targeted as a highly visible source of involuntary risks in the form of nuclear power plants and radioactive waste sites. In the past few years, reports of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences have presented increased risk estimates for radiation exposure as a consequence of ongoing epidemiological analyses of human populations exposed to ionizing radiation. These risk estimates have enhanced public concern about radiation exposure and set the stage for discussions about the desirability of further reductions in exposure standards for radiation workers and members of the public. Such reductions would directly affect the professional activities, educational responsibilities, and administrative burdens of most medical and health physicists. These persons should understand the process of deriving risk estimates from epidemiological data, the factors that influence the risk estimates, how risk estimates are integrated into radiation protection standards, and the possible impact of more rigorous standards on the use of radiation in medicine.