NCRP Annual Meeting
The Fortieth Annual NCRP Meeting (Advances in Consequence Management for Radiological Terrorism Events) was held on April 14-15, 2004, at the Crystal Forum, Arlington, VA. This unique meeting, which was attended by over 500 people, focused on advances in counteracting the threat to humans created by acts of radiological terrorism. International experts involved in planning for this form of terrorism discussed the current threat and state of preparedness in the United States and worldwide. Major advances in several aspects of preparing for acts of radiological terrorism were described, including new radiation detection technologies, current and future biological dosimetry, recent advances in the development of chemical protectants and therapeutic agents for mitigating radiation health effects, and strategies for identifying and managing mass casualties and the psychological impacts of a radiological terrorism event. Other presentations focused on practical and scientifically based approaches for efficiently cleaning up and restoring sites contaminated as a result of terrorist actions involving the release of radioactive materials.
Speakers for the NCRP’s fortieth annual meeting included Abel J. Gonzalez, International Atomic Energy Agency, as the 28th Lauriston S. Taylor lecturer and John W. Poston, Sr., Texas A&M University, as the 1st Warren K. Sinclair keynote speaker.
This meeting marked NCRP’s 75th year of service as the nation’s premier scientific organization chartered by Congress to collect, analyze, develop and disseminate radiation protection and measurement information.
NCRP Publications
The Council continues to formulate and widely disseminate information, guidance and recommendations on radiation protection and measurements that represent the consensus of leading scientific thinking. The latest NCRP Reports and Commentaries are:
Report No. 144, Radiation Protection for Particle Accelerator Facilities. NCRP Report No. 51, published in 1977 and entitled, Radiation Protection Design Guidelines for 0.1–100 MeV Particle Accelerator Facilities, was one of the first comprehensive treatments of accelerator radiological protection concerns. The present Report is a substantial revision and expansion of the earlier report and includes new information on source intensities, shielding, dosimetry, and environmental aspects of particle accelerator operation. It is primarily concerned with radiological safety aspects that are special to the operation of particle accelerators having energies above 5 MeV up to the highest energies available, while not neglecting low-energy neutron generators.
The purpose of this Report is to provide design guidelines for radiation protection and to identify those aspects of radiological safety that are of major, or even unique, importance to the operation of particle accelerator installations. This Report also suggests methods by which safe operation may be achieved. The Report is written from an engineering physics viewpoint and is intended to be useful to those engaged in the design and operation of accelerators, particularly in smaller institutions and organizations that do not have a large radiological protection staff. Managers of institutional and industrial accelerator installations, health physicists, hospitals, radiological physicists, research scientists, government regulators, project engineers, and other similar specialists will also find the information contained in this report useful.
Report No. 145, Radiation Protection in Dentistry. This Report was developed under the auspices of Scientific Committee 91, NCRP’s program area committee concerned with radiation protection in medicine. The Report provides radiation protection guidance for the use of x rays in dental practice, including advice on shielding design for dental x-ray facilities. It supersedes NCRP Report No. 35, Dental X-Ray Protection, which was issued in March 1970.
The Report is dedicated to the memory of George W. Casarett, Ph.D., former Professor of Radiation Biology and Biophysics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, for his enduring contributions to NCRP, radiation biology, and radiation health sciences communities, and for his incomparable scientific and practical mentoring of dentists in the radiation sciences.
Commentary No. 16, Screening of Humans for Security Purposes Using Ionizing Radiation Scanning Systems. This Commentary was prepared at the request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA asked NCRP for advice on radiation protection issues concerning exposure to ionizing radiation from radiation-producing devices used for nonmedical security purposes. These devices, particularly x-ray scanning systems, are being evaluated by various agencies (e.g. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration) for use in security screening of humans.
The use of such scanning devices involves a broad societal decision that needs to be made through appropriate procedures by the authorities utilizing the x-ray producing electronic products (and other types of ionizing radiation producing systems) as a security device for screening humans. This Commentary provides an evaluation of radiation levels, radiation risk, and radiation protection measures that should be taken into consideration by implementing authorities. However, NCRP cannot render an opinion on the net benefit of using these devices based on their ionizing radiation aspects alone.
Commentary No. 17, Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis System Used in Security Surveillance. This Commentary has been prepared at the request of Sensor Concepts and Applications, Inc. (SCA) of Phoenix, Maryland. SCA, working with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and federal agencies with responsibility for control of commerce between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, asked NCRP for advice on the radiological safety aspects of a pulsed fast neutron analysis (PFNA) system. The PFNA system is being evaluated as a security surveillance device, and a six-month test of the system will be undertaken to evaluate its effectiveness. This Commentary is a compilation of responses to three separate requests from SCA concerning the PFNA system.
The first response was completed in September 2002, entitled, Radiation Protection Advice for Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis System Used in Security Surveillance. It covers: (1) the appropriate dose limit for persons inadvertently irradiated by the PFNA system, (2) the proper methods to determine the dose received, and (3) an opinion on whether the use of the PFNA system could result in levels of activation products in pharmaceuticals and medical devices that might be of concern to public health.
The second response was completed in February 2003, entitled, Radiation Protection Advice for the Pulsed Fast Neutron System Used in Security Surveillance: Part II. The ALARA Principle and Related Issues. It covers: (1) a description of the relevant concepts of radiation protection that should be applied to the PFNA system, (2) a critique, in the form of advice on the necessary content of the draft System Safety Specifications and the draft Radiation Safety Plan for the PFNA system, and (3) the application of the as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) principle to the PFNA system.
The third response was completed in July 2003, entitled, Radiation Protection Advice for the Pulsed Fast Neutron System Used in Security Surveillance: Part III. Methods for the Determination of Effective Dose to Inadvertently Exposed Individuals. It covers the specific methods and instruments recommended for determination of the radiation dose (i.e., the effective dose) that an individual would receive by inadvertent exposure to radiation from the PFNA system.
Commentary No. 18, Biological Effects of Modulated Radiofrequency Fields. Modulated radiofrequency fields are widely used for radio and television broadcasting, commercial and military radar systems, and wireless telecommunications. In this Commentary, a summary is presented of scientific literature on the biological interactions and human health effects of pulsed and amplitude-modulated radiofrequency fields. Conclusions are drawn on the plausible mechanisms of interaction of these fields with biological tissues, and the extent to which observed biological effects could influence human health and safety.
2004 Elections
Elected to the Council
Sally A. Amundson
Joel S. Bedford
David J. Brenner
Michael L. Corradini
Allen G. Croff
David A. Eastmond
Donald P. Frush
F. Owen Hoffman
William E. Kennedy, Jr.
Howard L. Liber
Paul A. Locke
Fred A. Mettler, Jr.
Michael T. Ryan
Stephen M. Seltzer
Steven L. Simon
Julie E.K. Timins
Lawrence W. Townsend
Richard J. Vetter
Stuart C. White
Elected to Honorary Membership
Harold L. Beck
Lawrence N. Rothenberg
F. Ward Whicker
Elected to the Board of Directors*
Leslie A. Braby
S.Y. Chen
Thomas F. Gesell
Amy Kronenberg
Jill A. Lipoti
R. Julian Preston
Henry D. Royal
Richard J. Vetter
Susan D. Wiltshire
*The President and the Vice President are automatically members of the Board of Directors.
Elected as Officers
Thomas S. Tenforde, President
Kenneth R. Kase, Senior Vice President
David A. Schauer, Secretary & Treasurer
Michael F. McBride, Assistant Secretary
Appointed to the Nominating Committee
Paul M. DeLuca, Chairman
John F. Ahearne
Stephen A. Feig
Amy Kronenberg
Susan M. Langhorst
Appointed to the Budget and Finance Committee
C. Douglas Maynard, Chairman
Benjamin R. Archer
Mary E. Clark
Jill A. Lipoti
Stephen M. Seltzer
Status of Scientific Committee Activities
Drafting Stage
SC 1-13, Effects of Therapeutic Medical Treatment and Genetic Background
SC 1-14, Public Dose Limits for Ionizing Radiation
SC 46-17, Radiation Protection in Educational Institutions
Preparing for Council or Board Review
SC 1-7, Information Needed to Make Radiation Protection Recommendations
for Travel Beyond Low-Earth Orbit
SC 1-8, Risk to Thyroid from Ionizing Radiation
SC 46-13, Design of Facilities for Medical Radiation Therapy
SC 57-17, Radionuclide Dosimetry Models for Wounds
SC 64-22, Design of an Effective Effluent and Environmental Monitoring Program
SC 64-23, Cesium in the Environment
SC 91-1, Precautions in the Management of Patients Who Have Received
Therapeutic Amounts of Radionuclides
Revising After Council Review (not yet approved for publication)
SC 1-4, Extrapolation of Risks from Non-Human Experimental Systems to Man
SC 46-16, Radiation Protection in Veterinary Medicine
SC 57-15, Uranium Risks
SC 72, Radiation Protection in Mammography
SC 85, Risk of Lung Cancer from Radon
SC 87-3, Performance Assessment of Near Surface Radioactive Waste
Facilities
SC 87-5, Risk Management Analysis for Decommissioned Sites
Preparing Printer’s Manuscript (approved for publication)
SC 9, Structural Shielding Design for Medical X-ray Imaging Facilities
At the Printer
SC 1-10, Review of Cohen’s Radon Research Methods
2003 Annual Meeting Proceedings Radiation Protection at the Beginning of the
21 st Century —A Look Forward (to be published in Health Physics)
2003 Taylor Lecture, The Evolution of Radiation Protection: From Erythema to
Genetic Risks of Cancer to ? by Charles Meinhold (to be published in Health
Physics).
Published During the Past Year
SC 1-11, Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis System Used in Security Surveillance
SC 1-12, Screening of Humans for Security Purposes Using Ionizing Radiation
Scanning Systems
SC 46-8, Radiation Protection for Particle Accelerator Facilities
SC 87-1, Management Techniques for Laboratories and Other Small Institutional Generators to Minimize Off-Site Disposal of Low-Level Radioactive Waste
SC 89-4, Biological Effects of Modulated Radiofrequency Fields SC 91-2, Radiation Protection in Dentistry
2002 Annual Meeting Proceedings, Where the New Biology Meets Epidemiology: Impact on Radiation Risk Estimates, Proceedings of the Thirty- Eighth Annual Meeting held April 10-11, 2002. Health Phys . 85, 15-103 (July 2003)
2002 Taylor Lecture, Developing Mechanistic Data for Incorporation into Cancer and Genetic Risk Assessments: Old Problems and New Approaches by R. Julian Preston. Health Phys . 85, 4-12 (July 2003)
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