Can collective doses be based on surveillance data?

Collective dose represents a measure of the total consequences of exposure of a population or group to a radiation source. In general, the collective dose received by the public from authorised routine discharges consists of a wide distribution of individual doses. Consequently, public collective doses are largely assessed using discharge information and modelling techniques, requiring assumptions to be made concerning the environmental transfer of radionuclides from the point of discharge to man. It has been suggested that surveillance data could be used to provide estimates of public collective dose or to support the doses calculated by modelling. These issues have been addressed in a study recently carried out by NRPB, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (author)