Potential Impacts of ICRP 60 and 61 on the Transportation Regulations*

The International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) has been providing recommendations for limitations on radiation exposure for decades. The ICRP recommendations address ionizing radiation and are concerned with protecting humans from its effects. These recommendations assist regulatory and advisory agencies in establishing and promulgating national regulations and practices in radiation protection. Most countries have incorporated at least some aspect of the recommendations in their regulations since about 1956 when the first basic protection standard was published in ICRP 2. Since that time ICRP has issued two major revisions to the recommendations. ICRP 26 was published in 1977 and ICRP 60 was published in 1991. These last two publications have companion works, ICRP 30 and ICRP 61, that contain Annual Limits of Intake (ALI) for radiation workers. In addition to national regulations, international regulations also reference or are based on the ICRP recommendations. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which publishes basic requirements for protection against exposure to ionizing radiation and radioactive materials in Safety Series (SS) No. 9 (IAEA 1982), cites the ICRP recommendations as the basis for its standards. The requirements of SS No. 9 provide the framework for all other IAEA endeavors related to radiation protection. IAEA's most important publication for the transport community is SS No. 6, Regulations for the Safe Transpon of Radioactive Materials (IAEA 1990a). SS No. 6 embodies the basic radiation protection requirements of SS No. 9 in paragraphs 201-206. These paragraphs contain the basic transport-related requirements for controlling exposures to workers, the general public, and the environment through radiation protection programs [e.g., as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA)], and the development of separation and segregation distances. Because SS No. 6 must be consistent with SS No. 9, any changes to the ICRP recommendations have a trickle down effect into SS No. 6.