Policies for radiation protection at nuclear facilities

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interface between three terms: radiological protection, nuclear safety, and radiation safety. The radiological protection is concerned with the estimation and the control of radiation doses. The term applies only to normal operation and anticipated operational occurrences (certain exposures) at nuclear facilities. Nuclear safety is primarily concerned with assessment and avoidance of accidents at Nuclear Power Plants and other facilities. Briefly, the basic tenets of nuclear safety are: - if it can happen, than that it must not matter; - if it matter, than it must not happen. The aim which radiation protection and nuclear safety regard is a net benefit obtained from safely operating of the nuclear facility and the risk to populating (and to personnel, too) must not exceed the levels considered as dangerous. The evolution of these disciplines has been able to formulate, for the last years, new and generalizing notions, which defined a new item i.e. radiation safety. Radiation safety encompasses not only anticipated situations involving certain exposures, but also unanticipated 'de factor' situations. Radiation safety is at present an essential objective and must represent a concern for Romanian experts. (Author) 3 Figs., 4 Refs