The updated document (ICRP-146, 2020) for mitigating radiological consequences of nuclear accident

There is an updated latest ICRP document entitled Radiological Protection of people and the environment in the event of a large nuclear accident published by the ICRP as the Publication No. 146 (2020). The document is the updated versions of ICRP – 109 and ICRP- 111, which cover emergency exposure situations. The new document draws experience of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents.

The early and intermediate phases of accidents are considered as Emergency exposure situations and the long-term phase is considered as existing exposure situations (ICRP-103). Mitigating the radiological consequences on the humans and the environment are achieved by the justification and optimization principles as discussed in the ICRP. A set of reference levels are recommended for protection of general population, and for the protection of all concerned in the mitigation process. The concerned authorities at national and local level, are responsible for implementing radiation monitoring and surveillance programs. The authorities also are responsible to involve all the stakeholders in the emergency preparedness process and management of the successive phases of the accident.  

Posts related with the PREFACE of the reference book Radiological Protection and safety (Sep. 2019)

Radiation is ubiquitous. All humans are exposed to natural background radiation consisting of cosmic radiation, cosmogenic radionuclides and radiation from the radioactive materials present in the earth. In addition to this, humans are also exposed to artificial or man-made radiation sources. In all, globally on an average, the annual radiation dose due to these sources works out to be around 2.4 mSv. The levels of natural radionuclides are enhanced significantly in situations where the materials are processed in industrial scale to obtain useful materials such as uranium, thorium, rare-earth elements, etc.