Radiation safety: New international standards

by Abel J. Gonzalez B*y the end of the 1980s, a vast amount of new information had accumulated to prompt a new look at the standards governing protection against exposures to ionizing radiation and the safety of radiation sources. First and foremost, a re-evaluation of the radioepidemiological findings from Hiroshima and Nagasaki suggested that exposure to lowlevel radiation was riskier than previously estimated. Other developments — notably the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and at Chernobyl in 1986 with its unprecedented transboundary contamination — had a great effect on the public perception of the potential danger from radiation exposure. Accidents with radiation sources used in medicine and industry also have attracted widespread public attention: Cuidad Juarez (Mexico), Mohamadia (Morocco), Goiania (Brazil), San Salvador (El Salvador), and Zaragoza (Spain) are names that appeared in the news after people were injured in radiation accidents. Furthermore, the decade saw the rediscovery of natural radiation as a cause of concern for health: some dwellings were found to have surprisingly high levels of radon in air; natural radiation exposures of some non-radiation-related workers were discovered to be at levels much higher than the occupational limits specified in recognized standards. Following these developments, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in 1990 revised its standing recommendations. The concerned organizations of the United Nations family and other multinational agencies promptly followed by triggering a review of their own standards.