Using the IRPA Guiding Principles on Stakeholder Engagement: putting theory into practice.

The International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) published their Guiding Principles for Radiation Protection Professionals on Stakeholder Engagement in February 2009. The publication of this document is the culmination of four years of work by the Spanish Society for Radiological Protection, the French Society of Radioprotection, the United Kingdom Society of Radiological Protection, and the IRPA organization, with full participation by the Italian Associate Society and the Nuclear Energy Agency's Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health. The Guiding Principles provide field-tested and sound counsel to the radiation protection profession to aid it in successfully engaging with stakeholders in decision-making processes that result in mutually agreeable and sustainable decisions. Stakeholders in the radiation protection decision making process are now being recognized as a spectrum of individuals and organizations specific to the situation. It is also important to note that stakeholder engagement is not needed or advised in all decision making situations, although it has been shown to be a tool of first choice in dealing with such topics as intervention and chronic exposure situations, as well as situations that have reached an impasse using traditional approaches to decision-making. To enhance the contribution of the radiation protection profession, it is important for radiation protection professionals and their national professional societies to embrace and implement the IRPA Guiding Principles in a sustainable way by making them a cornerstone of their operations and an integral part of day-to-day activities.

Radiation protection challenges facing the federal agencies.

In the United States, federal agencies are responsible for setting national policy and performance expectations for radiation protection programs. National policy establishes a regulatory regime, under which society can realize the beneficial uses of radiation while at the same time protecting workers, the public, and environment from the potential hazards of radiation. The challenges facing federal agencies continue to revolve around finding the right balance between benefit and adverse impact. Federal agencies are petitioned to support the research community to provide a sound scientific basis for informing the decision-making process related to radiation protection policy. The federal agencies are further challenged to consider the deliberations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) who bring together the best technical minds in the field to consider the latest scientific information and provide recommendations for establishing comprehensive and coherent radiation protection programs. The uncertainty inherent in research and the conservatism in the models and recommendations of the ICRP and NCRP should be transparent and communicated because determining the level of uncertainty and the degree of conservatism acceptable to society is a challenge for, and the responsibility of, the federal agencies in creating performance-based policies in public health and radiation protection. It is through the federal government's open, inclusive, and democratic processes where society strikes the balance that defines adequate radiation protection policy, builds public trust, and allows the radiation protection professionals to properly implement and manage that policy.

A United States perspective on long-term management of areas contaminated with radioactive materials.

The US has far-reaching and extensive experience in the long-term management of areas contaminated with radioactive materials. This experience base includes the Department of Energy's continued follow-up with Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the 1940s at the Radiological Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan, the long-term management of the Marshall Islands Programme, the clean-up of the US nuclear weapons complex and the ongoing management of accident sites such as in Palomares, Spain. This paper discusses the lessons learnt and best practices gained from this far-reaching and extensive experience in the long-term management of areas contaminated with radioactive materials.

The plenary session on the ICRP recommendations for the 21st century at IRPA-11, Madrid.

During the IRPA-11 Congress in Madrid in May 2004, a technical panel session was devoted to the presentation and discussion of the draft 2005 recommendations of the ICRP. Panel members had been given privileged access to the new draft and had been asked to concentrate on specific areas. This memorandum summarises the initial presentation of the main ideas in the draft recommendations by the ICRP Chairman, Roger Clarke, and then presents the views of the six panellists.