Practical applications of the exemption principle in radiation protection

A. D. Wrixon

doi:10.3139/124.100208

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Practical applications of the exemption principle in radiation protection

A. D. Wrixon

Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 2. Mai 2013

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Abstract

The concept of exemption has been widely used in radiological protection. It is part of the regulator's arsenal for applying legislative requirements in a graded fashion, to avoid the expenditure of effort on situations where the return in terms of improvement in protection would otherwise be trivial. Nevertheless, it still remains a controversial matter. It is not so much the dosimetric criteria for exemption that cause debate; it is more the way in which the concept is used; the scenarios employed to calculate derived activity concentrations, and its relationship to the somewhat analogous concept of exclusion. A particular problem has been the full integration into the legislative system of protection of exposures to radiation from sources of natural origin and the degree to which exemption is a relevant concept for dealing with such situations. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to provide some clarity on the two concepts and their practical implementation with a view to encouraging international harmonization and avoiding further unnecessary debate.

Kurzfassung

Der Begriffder Freigrenzen ist im Strahlenschutz weit verbreitet und wird insbesondere bei der Umsetzung gesetzlicher Regelungen in abgestufter Art und Weise verwendet, um so einen großen Aufwand in Situationen zu vermeiden, bei denen der Gewinn im Sinne von Verbesserung des Schutzes gering ware. Trotzdem bleiben die Freigrenzen eine kontroverse Angelegenheit. Dabei sind nicht so sehr die dosimetrischen Kriterien, Anlass für Diskussionen, sondern eher Art und Weise wie das Konzept der Freigrenzen angewendet wird, die Szenarien die zur Berechnung abgeleiteter Aktivitätskonzentrationen herangezogen werden und der Zusammenhang mit dem analogen Konzept der Freistellung. Ein spezielles Problem ist die volle Integration in das gesetzliche Regelwerk zum Schutz vor Strahlen bei natürlichen Strahlenquellen und zu welchem Grad die Freistellung ein passendes Konzept zum Umgang mit solchen Situationen ist. Dieser Beitrag erklärt die beiden Konzepte und ihre praktische Umsetzung im Hinblick auf internationale Harmonisierungsbestrebungen und dient der Vermeidung unnötiger Diskussionen.

¹ There are even exceptions to this in that the regulator may be given discretionary powers to exclude particular exposures or situations. An example of this is the Euratom Directive [1], which defines radioactive substance as ‘any substance that contains one or more radionuclides the activity or concentration of which cannot be disregarded as far as radiation protection is concerned’. Those countries that have adopted this formulation into their legislative requirements have, in relation to radioactive substances, effectively given the regulator the ability to define the boundaries of those requirements.

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Received: 2004-3-23

Published Online: 2013-05-02

Published in Print: 2004-08-01

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https://doi.org/10.3139/124.100208