Radiological Protection of Workers and the General Public

Abstract

Radiological protection has a long pedigree; its origins go back almost a century. Since then, not only has a large body of information on the effects of radiation been accrued, but this information has been used in a most successful way to manage the exposures of people in all forms of exposure situations. This success has largely been due to a unique organization, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), that has continually evaluated, interpreted and worked out how best to apply the knowledge that has arisen from the scientific disciplines of radiation physics, dosimetry and radiobiology, together with the complicated interpretation of numerous epidemiological studies. Furthermore, the ICRP has attempted to interface the continually improving science with the ever changing cultural and sociological context within which radiological protection needs to be applied. This is an on-going task. The current situation is one in which radiological protection guidance is set out within a framework of three exposure situations (planned, emergency and existing), involving three categories of human exposure (medical, occupational and public). Due to the scientific interpretation of the data, this matrix of exposure situations, and categorization of those likely to be exposed, is handled within a set of principles of justification of exposure, the optimization of the level of protection and the application of dose limits. All of the elements of this framework are briefly set out and discussed in this chapter, together with a brief overview of the current rates of exposure, due to different exposure situations, for people within the UK.