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NCRP was scientifically productive and completed several important reports and held two conferences in 2009. Highlights of the year included the completion of four reports and the proceedings of the 2008 NCRP Annual Meeting. Significant progress was made on other reports that will be brought to completion in 2010. NCRP publications completed in 2009 are the following. |
Report No. 160, Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States, prepared by Scientific Committee 6-2 chaired by Kenneth R. Kase, provides a comprehensive update through 2006 on all sources of radiation exposure to members of the U.S. public, including ubiquitous background radiation; occupational exposures; medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving ionizing radiation; exposures from industrial, security, medical, educational and research procedures; and exposures from consumer products. This NCRP Report represents an update of a study on U.S. population exposures published in 1987 as Report No. 93. Report No. 160 documented that there are currently two major sources of radiation exposure to members of the U.S. population, namely, ubiquitous background radiation and radiation from medical procedures with average annual effective doses per person of 3.11 and 3.00 mSv, respectively. The radiation per annum from medical sources represents an increase of nearly a factor of six per capita relative to the level estimated from data available in the early 1980s. In contrast, other sources of radiation exposure showed relatively little change per capita over the past 25 y. Because of the increase in medical radiation exposures, primarily from the rapidly growing uses of computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine procedures, and interventional fluoroscopy, the total average annual exposure of a member of the U.S. population increased by a factor of 1.7 from the early 1980s to 2006.
Report No. 162, Self Assessment of Radiation-Safety Programs, prepared by Scientific Committee 2-4 chaired by David S. Myers, describes the self-assessment process by which an organization utilizing radioactive materials or sources of radiation evaluates its compliance with external regulatory requirements and commitments and with its own internal radiation-safety program requirements. Self assessment is a proactive component of an effective management plan for a radiation-safety program. Report No. 162 describes in depth various types of self assessments, their purposes, and the procedures for conducting them. It discusses the frequency, the program areas to be assessed, the documentation, and the follow-up of assessments. The Report also presents guidance for the scheduling and resolution of corrective actions.
The Report of Scientific Committee 6-3, Uncertainties in Internal Radiation Dosimetry, chaired by Andre Bouville, provides a definitive analysis of the current state of knowledge of uncertainties in internal dose assessments, including uncertainties in measurements of input parameters for breath, urine, feces, blood and tissue samples; uncertainties in multi-pathway modeling of radionuclide retention and distribution in the body; and overall uncertainty analysis for the final estimate of internal absorbed dose for a given exposure scenario. The Report contains a number of realistic and informative examples of dose assessments and the calculation of associated uncertainties for several environmental, occupational and medical exposure situations. The Report also contains estimates of uncertainties in doses per unit intake for a number of selected radionuclides of special interest, including strontium, iodine, uranium and transuranic elements, and several postulated exposure situations for unspecified individuals.
The Report of Scientific Committee 6-4, Principles and Practices of Radiation Dose Reconstruction, chaired by Bruce A. Napier, establishes a firm scientific foundation for performing dose reconstruction and uncertainty analysis for a wide variety of exposure scenarios. This Report builds on the analysis of uncertainties in estimating external and internal absorbed doses presented in NCRP Report No. 158 (2007) on Uncertainties in the Measurement and Dosimetry of External Radiation and the forthcoming report of Scientific Committee 6-3 on Uncertainties in Internal Radiation Dosimetry described above. The discussion of principles and practices of radiation dose reconstruction are based in part on past experiences including atomic veterans who occupied Japan following detonation of atomic bombs in 1945 or who participated in atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945 to 1962; energy workers at government laboratories and members of contractor organizations involved in the production of nuclear weapons during the Cold War era; workers or members of the public exposed to radioactive fallout or the release of uncontrolled radiation and radioactive materials (e.g., from the Chernobyl reactor accident); and subjects involved in epidemiology studies (e.g., medically exposed populations).
Another 2009 publication was the proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting held on April 14-15, 2008 on the topic Low Dose and Low Dose-Rate Radiation Effects and Models. The proceedings, along with the 32nd Lauriston S. Taylor Lecture by Dade W. Moeller on Radiation Standards, Dose/Risk Assessments, Public Interactions, and Yucca Mountain: Thinking Outside the Box, were published in the November 2009 issue of Health Physics (Vol. 97, No. 5). NCRP is appreciative of the Program Committee, led by Antone L. Brooks, for organizing the meeting on a timely and important topic of great contemporary interest. Presentations were made by international experts on biological responses measured in experimental systems and human epidemiology studies, and the implications of these results for the modeling of low-dose radiation effects.
NCRP also organized a successful workshop held on September 23-24, 2009 on the topic Applications of Computed Tomography in Emergency Medicine: Ensuring Appropriate Use. This activity was co-sponsored by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Emergency Radiology, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Landauer, Inc., the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. One of the most rapidly growing medical applications of CT has been in emergency department settings, both for analyzing traumatic injuries and for documenting the appropriateness of releasing patients. In view of the large number of these CT procedures, it is of growing importance to analyze their value in the context of ionizing radiation doses received by patients. The goal of NCRP activities related to this subject are to evaluate the appropriate uses of CT in emergency medicine settings, and to establish guidelines based on a paper to be prepared by experts in emergency medicine, general diagnostic radiology, and medical physics as a follow-up to the 2009 workshop organized by NCRP.
It is expected that 2010 will be another highly productive year for NCRP with the publication of several important reports. Reports that are in the final stage of publication for release on the website http://NCRPpublications.org include Report No. 161, a two-volume set on Management of Persons Contaminated with Radionuclides. This includes the Handbook of emergency response actions to be taken in the field to counteract accidental or deliberate exposures of persons to radionuclides, and a comprehensive compendium of the Scientific and Technical Bases for the recommended actions. Other reports that are in an advanced stage of preparation for publication in 2010 include the report of Scientific Committee 2-2 on Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism: A Guide for Decision Makers; the Report of Scientific Committee 2-3 on Radiation Dose Management for Fluoroscopically-Guided Interventional Procedures; and the Report of Scientific Committee 4-2 on Population Monitoring and Decontamination Following a Nuclear or Radiological Incident. The proceedings of the 45th NCRP Annual Meeting held on March 2-3, 2009 on Future of Nuclear Power Worldwide: Safety, Health and Environment will also be published in 2010.
The 2011 NCRP Annual Meeting will be held March 8-9 in Bethesda, Maryland on the topic Scientific and Policy Challenges of Particle Radiations in Medical Therapy and Space Missions. The Program Committee, chaired by Kathryn D. Held, is planning a meeting that will include discussions of the radiobiological properties of particle radiation, human exposures in space exploration and medical radiotherapy procedures, cancer and noncancer disease risks associated with exposure to particle radiation, including late effects such as second cancer risks for radiotherapy patients, and active programs for the use of carbon-ion radiotherapy in Germany and Japan.
In 2009 NCRP completed a successful five-year program in which it provided technical and administrative support for the Veterans’ Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction (VBDR), which was established in 2005 as a requirement of Public Law 108-183 enacted on December 16, 2003. The Board has provided oversight and made many recommendations for improvements in radiation dose reconstruction and claims adjudication programs for veterans who have contracted diseases that may be associated with exposure to radiation during their occupation of Japan after the atomic-bomb detonations in 1945 or during subsequent atmospheric nuclear testing programs in the Pacific or Nevada Test Sites. Since 2005 NCRP has organized nine public meetings of VBDR at locations throughout the United States that were open to members of the public under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. During its public meetings the Board made a total of more than 50 recommendations to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that have led to substantial improvements in both dose reconstruction and claims adjudication procedures. NCRP provided operational support for activities of the Board and the federal agencies, and prepared several technical reports related to atomic veteran programs. The last of these reports was prepared in 2009 on the topic History, Accomplishments and Future Directions of the Veterans’ Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction that was approved by VBDR, DTRA, and VA, and submitted to the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs in the U.S. Congress during August 2009. This report can be viewed at http://www.vbdr.org.
NCRP has performed an initial evaluation in 2009 of undertaking an education and training program that will build on new radiation protection and measurement reports issued by NCRP. An ad hoc committee comprised of members of the Board of Directors developed a business plan in 2009 that evaluates the potential for both Internet-based and in-person training courses in several areas of interest, including medical applications of radiation and countermeasures to nuclear and radiological terrorism. The plan was evaluated by the Board of Directors at its December 2009 meeting and a decision was made to move forward in developing this new component of NCRP operations.
During 2009 NCRP continued its electronic publications program and contract agreements with data aggregators and eBook providers. Overall these methods of selling and disseminating the content of NCRP publications has been successful.
NCRP’s financial position remained strong in 2009 with the income from grants, contracts, contributions, investments, and sales of publications exceeding expenses for operations. A detailed description of NCRP finances in 2009 is presented in Appendix 1.
As I approach the end of my eighth year as President of NCRP, I look forward with enthusiasm to continuing to work with members of the Council, NCRP’s scientific committees, staff, and collaborators in meeting many radiation protection and measurement challenges to be addressed by NCRP in 2010 and beyond.
Thomas S. Tenforde
President
2008-2010 Strategic Program Plan >
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NCRP has received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov) to prepare a report on "Population Monitoring and Decontamination Following a Nuclear/Radiological Incident" |
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