Potential exposures in radiation medicine

Accidental exposures have progressively caused greater concern along last years and the concept of potential exposures has been deeply explored in the new ICRP recommendations. Severe accidents have been, produced by radiation sources employed in medicine. The particular way in which these sources are used enhances the probability of undesirable exposures of workers, members of the public and patients. Nevertheless safety of medical sources have frequently not deserved the same degree of attention as other radiation sources. The tools of probabilistic safety assessment can be applied to evaluate and improve the safety of these sources. (author)