9906a1Thomas-ANS99

1. Why is Radiation Treated as Being So Hazardous by Advisory and Regulatory Groups?

"Radiation, like most potentially toxic media, has a dose at which detectable health effects are observed. This is generally referred to as the threshold dose. Below this dose, exposure to the potential hazard can produce changes in molecules within the body, such as those that occur each day of our lives as a natural phenomenon. These changes are repaired, or we would not be allowed to exist. Some of these are induced by the background radiation to which all persons are subjected, the value of which can vary by a factor of up to 5 times depending upon the geographical location being measured. Background radiation in the United States ranges from ~1 to 3 mSv (100 to 300 mrem). There are those persons, particularly in radiation protection organizations, who feel that this background radiation is responsible for all cancers that occur 'naturally' in humans.

"The reputation that radiation has as a most-hazardous substance can generally be traced to job security, committee longevity, and media hype. The special interest groups in the case of radiation are not all from the lay public, but they are also composed of so-called scientists who need to have this attitude in order to exist in their current roles in the regulatory or guidance field. We have really added little to advise us on lowering the guidelines for radiation in the past two or three decades, but using one’s imagination allows the limits to be lowered by using the proper descriptive factors of multiplication or division. The logic that governed the early persons working in this field of radiation protection is no longer applied, but the need to change exposure criteria is the governing factor.

"The cost of cleaning up the so-called Superfund radiation sites is estimated to equal the national debt in the United States. The lower and more stringent the allowed exposure levels are, the more the cost of performing simple tasks in a radiation field at twice background. For example, the suiting-up as moon explorers to enter areas of nonexistent hazard is one of the most expensive parts of the cleanup process. The cost to decommission the Yankee Nuclear Power Station was close to $400 million, and the amount owed because of the Shoreham debacle was estimated at $1.6 billion.

"How do rational people stop such trends from developing? There is no good answer to this; however, one could hallucinate about a great research program designed to establish what the exposure limits should be increased to in order to make sense. Will this happen? Of course it will, as soon as the dollars are too scarce to continue in the current trend, but perhaps this will be one of the most phenomenal outcomes of the year 2000."