Topics under Debate - Is it Useful to Assess Annual Effective Doses that are Less than 100 mSv?

• Published in: Radiation protection dosimetry 2002-02, Vol.98 (2), p.239-245
• Main Author: D. J. Strom Opposer J. R. Cameron Moderator J. C. McDonald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0144-8420; 1742-3406
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a006717

A primary goal of radiation protection is to ensure that workers and members of the public are not caused significant harm by practices that involve the use of ionising radiation. An important method for achieving this goal for radiation workers involves the use of personal dosemeters providing signals that are proportional to the external dose equivalents received by individuals. The quantity determined from measurements made with personal dosemeters is assumed to be a reasonable surrogate for a desired protection quantity such as equivalent dose. Two basic parameters involved in the assessment of equivalent dose based on measurements with personal dosemeters are the frequency of the measurements and the lower level of the quantity measured that is of use to radiation protection. The question posed in this debate is whether it is useful to assess annual effective doses that are less than 100 mSv. This question relates not only to the practical capabilities of current dosemeters, but also to the rationale for performing measurements and the implications of such measurements in the assessment of the risk associated with exposure to low doses of ionising radiation.