Use of a 'local population dose distribution' in performance assessment

Most international guidance and national regulations for radioactive waste disposal define a dose or health risk limit to a single 'reasonably maximally exposed individual' (RMEI) or a member of a small 'critical group' At the opposite extreme, some regulations have based limits on the 'collective dose' the cumulative dose integrated over a very large area (often the entire planet) and integrated over very long time periods. A middle ground between the two approaches, the concept of a local population dose distribution, is proposed that may provide additional insight to the regulator and to the public. This concept calls for estimating the distribution of annual or lifetime individual doses or health risks to the hypothetical population only in the vicinity of the radioactive waste disposal site. Such an approach avoids, having to calculate minuscule doses to individuals located large distances from the site, yet provides some insight regarding the relationship between the doses/risks to the maximally exposed individual or critical group, and that of the larger local hypothetical population. This paper also provides an illustrative application of the local population dose distribution concept to the candidate HLW disposal site at Yucca Mountain