Agricultural versus uranium industry regarding the exposure to natural radiation

The potential exposure of the critical group is to be evaluated against national and international recommendation regarding the impact of general nuclear facilities. In Brazil, an agricultural industry together with uranium mining and milling facilities take place at an elevated natural radioactivity region. It was performed a dose and risk assessment to the local and remote population due to these two man made activities. This paper will present some data on dose and radiological risk to the local population (rural workers and their families) living at that region for occupational reasons. The non significant increase on the radiation dose exposure to a critical group due to the uranium industry will be pointed out. Problems associated in applying the ICRP dose limitation system to such situations will be discussed. (author)