No abstract available

[en] Current regulatory requirements for the use of x-ray optics equipment in factories are compared with the 19-year-old Guidance Notes for their use in research and teaching establishments. The difficulties in drafting new legislation to cater for both areas of use are discussed and the proposed regulations and approved code of practice having a direct bearing on x-ray optics equipment are reviewed. Comment is made concerning the proposed Health and Safety Executive document, ''Radiation Safety in the use of X-ray Optics Equipment, which will give practical advice and guidance on cost effective methods of achieving the regulatory objectives. The costs involved are unlikely to be significant for the majority of users and implementation of the proposed legislation should not restrict the use of x-ray optics equipment. (author)

[en] A method, using a radioactive source and scintillation detector, to assess a value of lead equivalence for materials which may be provided for radiation shielding from diagnostic X-rays is described. Such values have been compared with those determined by measurements of broad beam X-radiation transmission at generating kilovoltages in the range 60 kV to 150 kV for wall sections built from conventional building materials. The results demonstrate the validity of this new method which has proved to be a very simple and quick means of assessing shielding quality. (author)

[en] Small quantities of radionuclides are discharged in airborne effluents during the normal operation of nuclear installations. The dispersion of these nuclides in the atmosphere and their subsequent transfer through various sectors of the environment leads to the irradiation of the population. The collective dose to the UK population from airborne discharges in one particular year, 1978, from UK nuclear installations is estimated. The discharges in that year are typical of those in the recent past. Consideration is given to the contribution made by each type of establishment (eg, nuclear power stations, reprocessing plants) and the nuclides which contribute significantly to the collective dose are identified. The distributions of the collective dose in time and among individuals in the exposed population are important features in determining the significance attached to it and both aspects are discussed. The collective dose can be used as a measure of the health detriment associated with the discharge practices considered and is one of several quantities to be taken into account in assessing them. The collective doses from airborne discharges are finally contrasted with those from other sources of exposure of the population. (author)

[en] Radiological protection considerations are an important part of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials. These Regulations were first published some 20 years ago (1961) and were subject to complete revisions in 1967 and 1973. Another complete review and revision is in progress, scheduled for completion in 1983. The radiological protection information in the current Regulations is based, in general, on simple and robust modelling. Experience in applying the Regulations has demonstrated that adequate protection has so far been achieved. However, circumstances do change: there have been changes in emphasis in radiological protection philosophy and more sophisticated modelling and assessments have become available; moreover, modes of transport, traffic densities, speeds and routes change over the years. (author)

[en] The BEIR III report became available in August 1980 after an earlier draft had been withdrawn in 1979. The BEIR Committee have reviewed the state of knowledge on the interaction of radiation with biological tissue and concluded that the evidence is compatible with a wide range of interpretations. They consider the estimation of radiation risks and present a large number of tables of numerical values covering the various models which they discuss. Overall they suggest that for low linear energy transfer radiation the dose response is most realistically represented by an expression with a dose dependence which is the sum of a linear and a quadratic term. This summary of the report concentrates on the factors leading to the numerical estimates of the rate at which radiation can induce fatal malignancies. (author)

[en] The Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health has been informed that paragraphs 99-102 of ICRP Publication 26 are being interpreted in some countries as a recommendation to limit the average annual dose equivalent, over a working lifetime, to less than 5 mSv. This brief note sets out the reasons why the Committee considers that national authorities which are preparing radiological protection regulations and standards should exercise considerable caution in examining any proposal to introduce lifetime dose limits for workers in these regulations and standards. (U.K.)

[en] This note describes some steps in forward planning which may help to reduce the anxiety associated with the ''loss'' of large sealed sources. It follows from the successful recovery of two missing 2.2 GBq (60 mCi) Caesium 137 sources from the local rubbish tip, shortly after the discovery of their absence from a locked safe in the Radiotherapy Department of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. (author)

[en] This article is based upon a paper which was presented at the SRP meeting on the Biological Bases of Radiation Protection Standards, October 1981. It is suggested that experimental radiation carcinogenesis data derived from animal studies will probably never provide numerical evidence of risk that is applicable to man. The uncertainties involved in any extrapolation of risk estimates from mice to men surely outweigh the uncertainties in the human epidemiological data. It is also suggested that at least in the foreseeable future animal data will not solve the perennial problem of the shape at low doses of the dose response curve for radiogenic cancer. At most the data may clarify the debate over linearity-non linearity and over the existence or otherwise of a threshold. However, the paper does suggest a very positive role for animal data in providing semi-quantitative generalisations for radiological protection concerning such variables as dose rate, radiation quality, partial body/organ exposure and in situations where the dose is received in a highly inhomogeneous fashion, e.g. the special problems of internal emitters. (author)

[en] This brief paper reviews the activities of the Society of Radiological Protection and other, international bodies, over the last 21 years, for the three principal measurement areas: (i) photons, (ii) radioactivity, and (iii) neutrons, with brief references to future trends, in relation to reactor programmes, radiobiology and radiotherapy. Substantial bibliography. (U.K.)