Official positions are the positions that the Health Physics Society (HPS) takes on a topic. Positions are concise declarations regarding an issue relevant to radiation safety. Positions are established by a two-thirds vote of the Board members present.
To promote collegial relationships between the Society and other professional organizations, the Scientific and Public Issues Committee will communicate the positions of the Society on radiation safety issues with other organizations and the scientific community.
| Topic | Society Positions |
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Nuclear Power |
The Health Physics Society (HPS) believes that nuclear power in the United States is a safe, reliable, low-carbon energy source. The exposures to radiation and/or radioactive material associated with nuclear power generation—and indeed the entire nuclear fuel cycle—have been effectively managed to ensure the safety of workers, the public, and the environment. |
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Health Physics |
Health physics, also referred to as the science of radiation protection, is the profession devoted to protecting people and their environment from potential radiation hazards, while making it possible to enjoy the beneficial uses of radiation. Health physicists normally require a four-year bachelor’s degree and qualifying experience that demonstrates a professional knowledge of the theory and application of radiation protection principles and closely related sciences. |
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CT Scanning |
The Health Physics Society recommends that computed tomography (CT) screening exams only be performed if prescribed by a qualified healthcare provider. |
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Mobile Device Use for Radiation Detection |
Mobile applications to measure radiation using smart phones, or external accessories made for such devices, are not substitutes for quality-controlled measurements made by trained and qualified radiation protection professionals using calibrated radiation detection instruments. Measurements made by such devices should not be used as the primary source of information to evaluate the user’s safety or to issue protective actions for the public. |
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Radiofrequency Transmitters |
The radiofrequency transmitters used in conjunction with smart meters do not present a public health risk. |
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Radiation Exposure of Public |
No person should be intentionally exposed to ionizing radiation without his or her knowledge. |
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Patient Release PS027-0 |
The HPS has adopted a position recommending that patients who have been treated with therapeutic quantities of radiopharmaceuticals or who have received permanent implants of sealed radioactive sources for therapeutic purposes may be released from treatment facilities without harm to caregivers and the public if the conditions of release are based on patient-release criteria published by national and international radiation safety consensus organizations and by regulations (10 CFR 35.75) of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. |
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Safety Culture |
Users of radiation and radioactive material should establish a collective commitment by their managers and employees to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment. |
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Radiological Quantities |
The HPS has adopted a position that the International System of Units (SI) should be used exclusively when expressing radiological quantities. |
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Stakeholder Engagement |
The HPS endorses the Guiding Principles for Radiation Protection Professionals on Stakeholder Engagement developed by the International Radiation Protection Association. |
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Spent Nuclear Fuel |
1. The HPS believes the management of spent fuel from nuclear reactors should be conducted in a manner that (a) uses only scientifically valid and reasonable assumptions for setting protection standards, (b) adequately protects the public and environment from radiation exposure resulting from natural, accidental, or malevolent release of radioactive materials from the spent fuel, (c) accommodates evolving technologies, and (d) does not permanently dispose of potentially valuable material that is contained in a spent-fuel assembly. 2. The HPS believes that the development of new reactor technology that is intended for commercial production of electrical power must (a) integrate the characteristics of waste streams created by this new technology into the design of the new technology and process from the very beginning of its development, (b) design the framework to manage the new waste stream with equal importance to designing the technology itself, and (c) incorporate input and involvement from the regulatory authority that will regulate the technology and resulting waste stream once it is producing commercial power. 3. Regarding position 1.(a) above, the HPS believes the radiation protection standards recommended in its position statement “Ionizing Radiation-Safety Standards for the General Public” (HPS 2003) are appropriate for application to potential public exposure associated with management of spent nuclear fuel. 4. Regarding position 1.(b) above, the HPS believes the scientific validity and reasonableness of assumptions regarding the estimation of cancer and genetic risk from radiation exposure only allows the risk estimates to be extrapolated out for a period on the order of several generations (that is, on the order of a hundred years) but no more than a few hundred years. The basis for this is that today’s limited knowledge of radiation risk mechanisms results in the necessity of knowing the lifestyles and underlying cancer and genetic experience of the population for which the risk is being estimated, and it is unreasonable to think these can be known beyond a few generations. Of course, |
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Source Security |
The Health Physics Society (HPS) believes that security of vulnerable1 and orphan2 sources, both domestic and international, is a radiation safety issue of high priority needing additional state and national attention. Many disused sources are also vulnerable and to that extent are included in this statement. |
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Security Screening |
The Health Physics Society believes that intentionally exposing people to low levels of ionizing radiation for security screening is justified if certain criteria are met. The key considerations are the net benefit to society and keeping individual doses as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) while achieving the desired objective. Appropriate organizations should develop criteria for determining when the social benefits of public screening outweigh the risks associated with ionizing radiation exposure. The criteria should represent the consensus of professional, consumer-advocacy, labor, and business organizations; academic institutions; government agencies; and the general public. |
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Human Capital Crisis |
The Health Physics Society advocates for a substantial financial commitment by the Congress and federal agencies to support education of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians (STEM), STEM educators, research associated with these programs (including health physics), equipment and supplies for STEM teaching in secondary schools, and scholarships and financial support to colleges and universities in STEM. |
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Compensation |
Based on the extensive knowledge of radiation health effects, the Health Physics Society believes that a person’s radiation dose must be considered in determining whether to provide compensation for a disease that could have been caused by radiation. Further, there should be no compensation for persons whose lifetime doses are less than approximately 0.1 Sv. |
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Occupational Standards |
The Health Physics Society believes occupational radiation safety standards and regulations have been sound, and protective of radiation workers, since the mid-1950s. |
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Clearance of Materials |
1. The HPS supports regulations for radiation protection that are based on the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements recommendations for dose limits for individual members of the public. 2. The HPS believes that constraints should be applied to all regulated, nonmedical, nonoccupational sources of radiation exposure to the general public, excluding indoor radon, such that no individual member of the public will receive in any one year a total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) exceeding 1 mSv from all such sources combined. 3. The HPS believes that dose limits should be applied only to individual members of the public, not to the collective dose to population groups. 4. The HPS believes that regulations for radiation protection should be based on consensus standards of the American National Standards Institute issued by the Health Physics Society Standards Committee in keeping with the intent of Public Law 104-113 “National Technology and Transfer Act of 1995” and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119 “Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards.” 5. The HPS believes that primary radiation protection standards should be all pathway TEDE standards with screening levels related to quantities that can be measured such that compliance with these levels will result in the primary dose standards being met for reasonable and likely scenarios. 6. The HPS believes that these screening levels should be derived with consideration of the principle of as low as reasonably achievable. 7. The HPS supports the adoption of ANSI Standard N13.12 (1999), “Surface and Volume Radioactivity Standards for Clearance,” which is consistent with positions (1) through (6) above. |
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Radiation Risk in Perspective |
The Health Physics Society advises against estimating health risks to people from exposures to ionizing radiation that are near or less than natural background levels because statistical uncertainties at these low levels are great. |
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Low-Level Waste |
1. The goal of managing low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) is to ensure the safety of workers and the public and to protect the environment. To achieve this goal, disposal, not long-term storage, is the best and safest long-term approach. 2. The Health Physics Society believes that accessible disposal options should be available to waste generators nationwide. 3. Risk-informed waste-disposal requirements for radioactive materials should be based on sound science and consistent with the risk posed to public health and not based on its origins and statutory definitions. |
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Uncertainty in Risk Assessment |
The Health Physics Society supports risk assessments that are consistent, of high technical quality, unbiased, and based on sound, objective science. Risk assessments should employ the best available scientific and/or technical data and should include consideration of uncertainties. |
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Standards – Public |
The HPS recommends that radiation safety standards for the general public be based on the current scientific consensus provided by International Commission on Radiological Protection and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements recommendations. |
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Standards – Compatibility |
1. The HPS advocates a single, independent US federal agency shall have the responsibility and authority to establish all ionizing radiation safety standards for all controllable sources of occupational and public exposures. 2. Radiation safety standards shall be consistent with the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, and scientific consensus standards. |
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Radon |
The HPS encourages members of the public to minimize exposure to radon and its radioactive decay products to the extent reasonably achievable, taking into account applicable technical, economic, and social factors. |