Preface

Article Outline

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Between 31 October and 3 November 2006, the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) approved the formation of a new Task Group, reporting to Committee 4, to develop guidance on the implementation of the new ICRP recommendations on the principle of the optimisation of radiological protection in various states of emergency preparedness and response.

As stated in the terms of reference, the objective of the Task Group was to develop a report on the application of the Commission’s recommendations for the protection of populations in the emergency phase of a nuclear accident or a radiological emergency. It was tasked, in particular, to provide guidance on:

Particular attention has been given to the interface with the rehabilitation phase following a nuclear accident or a radiological emergency through a close co-ordination with the Task Group developing recommendations on this aspect.

This report takes into account recent developments, views, and experiences in emergency management. Ongoing work and efforts performed by international organisations, e.g. the revision of the International Basic Safety Standards, have also been considered. The guidance offered by the Task Group is generic, providing a basic framework that can be tailored to specific circumstances. The Task Group considers that detailed implementation of the Commission’s recommendations is a matter for the relevant national authorities.

The guidance in this report builds upon the concept of optimisation of protection below reference levels as recommended previously by ICRP.

The membership of the Task Group was as follows:

The corresponding members of this Task Group were:

The membership of Committee 4 during the period of preparation of the report was:

The Task Group would like to thank the organisations and staff that made facilities and support available for its meetings. These include the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in Germany and the Nuclear Energy of from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The report was adopted by the Commission at its meeting in Buenos Aires on 25 October 2008.

The recommendations and guidance provided by the Commission are usually attributed to the Commission itself, i.e. the reports represent a formal statement agreed by the entire Commission. Such reports are thus, technically, anonymous, although the membership of the Task Group drafting a report is always stated in the preface.

On rare occasions, reports have included reviews or appendices written by, and attributed explicitly to, individual members of the Commission or one of its Committees or Task Groups. Such contributions should be understood to have the same status as invited or proffered papers in any peer-reviewed journal, i.e. the Commission and ultimately the Editor (the Scientific Secretary of ICRP) regards the contribution as worthy of publication, but does not necessarily agree with its contents, which are the responsibility of the named author(s) alone.

The Commission feels that such contributions can make the Annals of the ICRP more useful, and intends to include such material somewhat more frequently in the future. At its meeting in Buenos Aires in October 2008, the 80^th anniversary of ICRP, the Commission decided to invite a review on the historical development of ICRP recommendations, based on R.H. Clarke’s presentation concerning the topic at the XII Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association in 2008.

The authors of this review are: