The application of optimization of protection to regulation and operational practice

Optimization of protection and the problems of its practical application have been of concern for several years to the NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health. The present paper summarizes the principal conclusions of a meeting on this topic organized by the NEA in March 1988, with the participation of radiation protection, nuclear safety and radioactive waste management experts. From the results of the meeting it appears that there is now as increasingly solid background of knowledge and common understanding of the conceptual aspects of optimization of protection. However, its degree of implementation in the regulatory and operational practices is very uneven. The areas of plant design and operation appear the most promising in terms of examples of concrete application, whilst severe reservations exist in the nuclear safety community on the possibility of applying this approach to the prevention of nuclear accidents. There is also consensus on the fact that optimization of protection can only play a partial and minor role in decisions concerning the choice of radioactive waste disposal options