Federal Radiation Protection Guidance for Exposure of the General Public; Notice ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Resumo

The Agency is proposing to make recommendations to the President for new guidance to Federal agencies on radiation protection which would have two effects: it would cause a five-fold reduction in the maximum allowable risk of cancer from any Federally regulated activity involving nuclear materials or other sources of radiation; and it would decrease the cost of Federal regulation of radiation by promoting uniform treatment of radiation by all Federal agencies, and reducing costly duplicative and conflicting requirements. The new guidance would replace those portions of previous recommendations that apply to protection of the general public, approved by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy in 1960 and 1961, respectively. New Federal guidance issued in 1987 replaced those portions of the 1960 and 1961 guidance that applied to protection of workers. These proposed recommendations are based on a review of existing guidance in light of current scientific understanding of the risks of exposure to ionizing radiation and of the experience of Federal agencies in its control. They include both qualitative guidance on radiation protection and numerical guides for limiting radiation doses to the