Some Absurdities of the 2005 Recommendations of the ICRP: Exclusion Levels
G.H. Kramer (Human Monitoring Laboratory, Health Canada)
The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) announced its new recommendations at the 11th Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association in Madrid, Spain (23 - 28 May 2004). The general consensus is that the new recommendations represent evolution, not revolution. This presentation focuses on one absurdity (there are others) contained within the recommendations: exclusion of radiation sources. It is concluded that the exclusion values recommended by the ICRP are too restrictive and too generalised. As a more balanced approach, the IAEA has created exclusion limits that are isotope specific with values that range from 0.1 Bq g-1 to 10,000 Bq g-1.