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Radiation Risks in Perspective

Autor Kenneth L. Mossman
en Limba Engleză Hardback – oct 2006
Public misperception of radiological risk consistently directs limited resources toward managing minimal or even phantom risks at great cost to government and industry with no measurable benefit to overall public health. The public’s inability to comprehend small theoretical risks arrived at through inherently uncertain formulae, coupled with an irrational push to eliminate all risk with no contextual understanding of overall benefit, results in a forfeiture of valuable advances in technology in favor of an illusion of safety. Radiation Risks in Perspective uses general concepts underlying radiological risk as a model to illuminate the fundamental problems in public perception, reaction, and policy when faced with possible health risks. Presenting three distinct themes, the author summarizes the causes for the failure of the current system and proposes methods for correction. Beginning with a discussion of the methods used to measure threat, the author weighs the nebulous assessment of risk with the use of a quantifiable assessment of hazardous dose, which uses actual numbers that the public can readily understand and that decision makers can confidently use to enact policy and measure success.
Secondly, the author addresses the contextual balancing of cost versus benefit when prioritizing expenditure, specifically emphasizing that it is inappropriate to analyze and discuss individual risks without regard to the presence of other risks. Finally, the author analyzes the public’s tendency to push toward zero risk tolerance, an extremist approach that leads to unreasonable restrictions on technologies, excessive regulatory compliance costs, and the ultimate loss of goods and services.
With detailed explanations and illustrative case studies, Radiation Risks in Perspective offers scientists, lawyers, engineers, policy makers, and public health professionals, the skills they need for a rational evaluation of risk.
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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780849379772
ISBN-10: 0849379776
Pagini: 207
Ilustrații: 23 b/w images and 14 tables
Dimensiuni: 164 x 241 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.48 kg
Ediția:1
Editura: CRC Press

Public țintă

Health physicists and radiation safety professionals in nuclear power industry and diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, federal, state, and local government environment, health, and safety regulators, public health officials and policy makers, risk assessors and risk managers

Cuprins

Contents

Risky Business


More than a Number
Safety without Risk?
What’s Risky?
Is It Dangerous?
Can I Get Exposed?
Can It Hurt Me?
What Are the Risks?
Damage Control
Perception Is Reality
References

Scientific Guesswork


Making the Right Choice
Predictive Theories in Risk Assessment
Linear No-Threshold Theory
Sublinear Nonthreshold
Supralinear
Hormesis
Threshold
Limitations and Uncertainties
Speculation versus Reality
Risk Management and Risk Communication
Quantifying Risk at Small Doses
References

No Safe Dose


LNT: The Theory of Choice
The LNT Controversy
Elements of the Debate
The Question of Thresholds
Repair of Radiation Damage and Cellular Autonomy
Uses and Misuses of LNT
Case 1: Estimation of Health Effects of Fallout from the
Chernobyl Reactor Accident
Case 2: Childhood Cancer Following Diagnostic X-ray
Case 3: Public Health Impacts from Radiation in a Modern Pit Facility

Uncertain Risk


How Low Can You Go?
Risk Assessment Considering Uncertainty
Uncertain Choices
Another Approach

Zero or Bust


Management Triggers
Technical Triggers
Size Matters
Sensitive People
Assigned Blame
Social Triggers
Safety
Protection of Children and the Unborn
Polluters Should Pay
Catastrophe and Apathy
Public Information and Distorting Risks
Political Triggers
Perceptions and Conflicts of Interest
Management Strategies
As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA)
Best Available Technology (BAT)
The Precautionary Principle
Risk-Risk Trade-offs and Unintended Consequences
Risk Offset
Risk Substitution
Risk Transfer and Risk Transformation
Challenges

Misplaced Priorities


Priorities and Realities
Factors in Prioritization
Scientific Evidence
Public Perception of Risks
Management Capacity
Court Actions
Influence of Stakeholder Groups
Real Risks and Reordering Priorities
Monetary Costs
Environmental Cleanup at the Nevada Test Site
Characterization of Waste Destined for WIPP

Avoiding Risk


The Case Against Risk
Different Risks
Agent-Agent Interactions
Dose as a Surrogate for Risk
The Case for Dose
A Dose-Based System of Protection
Regulatory Dose Limit
Natural Background
Acceptable Dose
Management Decisions Based on Dose Proportion
Simplification of Radiation Quantities and Units
Review of the Current System of Radiation Protection

Radiation from the Gods


The Watras Case
Human Exposure to Radon
Health Hazards of Radon
Is There Really a Public Health Hazard?
Public Health
Perceptions and Fears
Economic Impacts
National/Regional Differences

Hold the Phone


Will Cell Phones “Fry” Your Brain?
Managing Phantom Risks
Imprudent Precaution
International Calls

PR Campaign: Proportion, Prioritization, and Precaution


Proportion
Prioritization
Precaution

Glossary


Index