A unifying concept of radiation dose should be used to express the total health risk from exposure to radiation and chemicals. For example, many chemical pollutants we come across in day-to-day life and in industrial releases are carcinogenic. The risk factors (risk per unit exposure) are assessed by different agencies and are known. Carcinogenic risk from radiation is also well known.
Thus, it is possible to add up the chemical risks due to known amount of exposures or intakes (=measured concentration of the pollutant multiplied by the time period of exposure), and the risk from radiation exposure (=radiation dose rate multiplied by the time period of exposure) to get the total risks of cancer due to radiation and chemical pollutants in any given environment.
The total risk can be expressed in terms of the total Risk Equivalent Radiation Dose (RERD).
This can be conveniently employed by the policy makers to take decisions based on health detriment, due to a decision, say, to build a type of power plant, nuclear, thermal or hydro.
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