Some Reflections from the New System of Radiation Protection

Some issues concerning the new system of radiation protection of 2007 ICRP recommendations are raised and discussed. Parts of them are related to the concept of terms or approaches to control and the rest are to foster common understanding of the system. The issues include questions involving the definition of potential exposure and the existing exposure situations, position of accidental exposure in medicine in the protection system, concerns about the single source and constraints, and an approach for control of radon exposures. [I INTRODUCTION] The new recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) were finalized late 2007 after a long preparation period and intensive consultation from stakeholder, and published as ICRP publication 103 (hereinafter notated as ICRP 103 for convenience). The 2007 recommendations adopted a new approach to establishing the system of radiation protection, namely from the former practice and intervention based system to an exposure situation based system.